The Inspector General of Police, Ibrahim K. Idris, has ordered that the Special Anti-Robbery Squad (SARS) operatives stop conducting stop and search on roads, giving security protection to Very Important Personalities (VIP’s), among others, but the question lingers as to whether the directive would be followed.
Mr. Idris gave the order while meeting with the Commanders of the Police Anti-Robbery Squad, at the Police Headquarters in Abuja.
He stated that SARS would now appear in official uniforms with identification numbers and any stop and search operation must first be approved by the Commissioner of Police in charge of operations in the Commands they serve.
“In demonstration of good faith to the aspiration of the Nigerian populace, I have given mandate to the IGP’s Monitoring Units and ‘X’ Squad and other oversight units of the Force to monitor the activities of the SARS operatives, while in the same vein, citizens are encouraged to avail the Police with ways to improve SARS’ operations across the nation.”
According to Mr. Idris, SARS personnel will be undergoing continuous training assessment and psychometric test as part of the reformation.
He also said the unit will be confined to its established role of preventing, confronting and solving cases related to armed robbery and the general role of protecting the public from armed robbery and other violent crimes.
The order came following the #EndSars campaign, calling for the scrapping of the unit, with allegations of extortion, extra-judicial killings, and unprofessionalism.
However, some are skeptical about the effectiveness of such an order, since previous directives went down the drain.
In September, Mr. Idris ordered that roadblocks be removed from highways across the Country and personnel involved in vehicular patrols should wear uniforms with a bold name tag and service number.
After the order, the Abuja command reported that it would continue to barricade the highway to combat criminalities in the Federal Capital Territory.
In 2015, Solomon Arase, the then IGP, also called for the scrapping of roadblocks, claiming it “breeds corruption” and any security operative caught will be punished.
The year before, then acting IGP, Suleiman Abba, called for dismantling of all Police roadblocks nationwide, but it has never been rid of.
All these orders do not last long before they are being broken, it’s now left to be seen if Mr. Idris’ new directive would go the same way as that of his predecessors.
