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The nationwide protests were the culmination of weeks of anger and online protest by the country’s youth over allegations of kidnapping, harassment, and extortion by a police unit known as the Special Anti-Theft Brigade (SARS).
On Thursday, a protest was led on Lagos Island by Folarin Falana, a lawyer and singer, and Runtown, an artist known by that stage name.
Falana, popularly known as Falz, told CNN that it was important for him to march because there have been “too many incidents of harassment, extortion and police brutality” in the country. He added that he had also been the victim of harassment at the hands of the Nigerian police.
“People have been posting about this online for years, but it has been the same attitude and slow response. Nothing has changed and people are still being harassed. That is why we have taken to the streets and we want the government to listen,” he said .
“I march for those who are not recognized. We are surprised by the numbers that came out and we are prepared to march again ”, he added.
The protests continue into the night
Videos of the protesters shared on Twitter late Thursday showed police officers forcibly dispersing protesters, dismantling their tents, turning off street lights and verbal threats.
The Nigerian police force had responded to the public outcry last Sunday by prohibiting the unit from conducting arrest and search activities.
SARS, as well as other tactical police units, are now prohibited from “conducting routine patrols and other low-risk conventional tasks (stop and search duties, checkpoints, barricade erection, traffic control, etc.) with effect righ now”. “Nigerian Police Chief Mohammed Adamu said in a statement on Sunday.
Feyikemi Abudu was among the protesters outside the Lagos State Assembly in Ikeja on Friday. She told CNN that her demands were presented to the assembly, which held an emergency session on Friday to hear her demands.
“There are many lawsuits, but the main one is to eliminate SARS, not to reform it but to end it completely. Another lawsuit is compensation for victims of SARS brutality, both living and dead. We also want a committee to investigate and look up current and past complaints surrounding SARS brutality, “Abudu said.
Media personality Toke Makinwa was also among those who protested. “People are constantly calling my show with reports of harassment,” he said.
“One man told me they took out his phone and looked in his banking app, they took him to an ATM to withdraw money for them. Nigeria has reduced its citizens to doing everything themselves. SARS should not be one of the problems. we have to face.. You are supposed to be against theft, but we fear you. The people who are meant to protect are the ones who oppress us. ”
CNN presented this and other allegations to the Nigerian police force, and Lagos State spokesman Muyiwa Adejobi said that all complaints against its officers are carefully investigated and appropriate penalties are applied to violators.
Adejobi added that many people rarely report abuses because they fear that justice will not be served. He encouraged people affected by police misconduct to report abuses.
‘Lack of political will’
Police say banning the SARS unit is one of many steps toward reforming the team.
However, this ban is not the first time that the Nigerian authorities have censured the SARS unit.
But the human rights organization Amnesty Nigeria says not much has changed since these bans were implemented.
“A similar SARS ban did not end police brutality because it appeared that the bans were made simply to quell mounting public anger at the time of the announcement and were not intended to end police brutality,” said the director of the Amnesty Nigeria program, Seun Bakare.
In an email to CNN, he said that as a result of past campaigns, some reforms such as “the approval of the 2017 anti-torture law, the signing of the new police law” and other minor amendments were passed.
‘Nothing will happen if I shoot you’
The hashtag #EndSARS, #StopPolicebrutality has continued to be trending on Twitter as young people shared their stories, photos and videos that they allege show men in Nigerian police uniforms searching their cars and harassing them.
Lagos-based businessman Samuel Otigba told CNN that he has had several encounters with members of the police who he believes are from the SARS unit. He said encounters often begin with requests for bribes. Otigba alleges that in May he got into trouble because he refused to give a bribe to one of the officers when he was arrested after an evening with his wife.
He says his phone was searched and he was threatened by the officer who told him: “You know, if I shoot you, nothing will happen. The highest thing anyone can do is shout justice on Twitter.”
Otigba recounted another encounter earlier this year when another group of officers, wearing masks, he said, detained him and his wife again after a night out in Lagos state.
“Six of them jumped out of their minibus and started pointing guns at us, ordering us to get out of our car. We thought they were armed robbers. We were all very scared and my wife was crying,” Otigba told CNN.
This time he says he paid the officers 20,000 naira (about $ 52) before they let them go. He said he did not report the incident.
Adejobi, the police spokesman, said that only reported incidents are investigated.
‘Carrying laptops is not a crime’
Many tech entrepreneurs say they are targeted for having things like tattoos and dreadlocks, or simply carrying laptops and smartphones.
“Detainees in SARS custody have been subjected to a variety of torture methods including hanging, mock execution, hitting, punching and kicking, burning with cigarettes, scuba diving, near-suffocation with plastic bags, forcing detainees to assume stressful body positions and sexual violence, “the Amnesty report said.
Nigerian Police Chief Mohammed Adamu warned against “invasion of citizens’ privacy, particularly through indiscriminate and unauthorized searches for mobile phones, laptops and other smart devices,” while Nigeria’s Vice President , Yemi Osinbajo, recently held a meeting with the police chiefs on the matter. according to a statement from the Presidency.
Osinbajo said the president is “very concerned about that and … wants to see a reform.”
“You can’t have a situation where SARS says they are investigating a cybercrime arresting young men and women carrying their laptops and phones. I don’t see how you can investigate that by seizing people’s phones in a taxi. or in their cars, “according to tweets attributed to Osinbajo.
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