Joe Odei-Odumakin, national convener, Nigerians Unite Against Terror (NUAT), has called for the probe of “atrocities” committed by the bad eggs within the special anti-robbery squad (SARS).
SARS has come under heavy criticism of late, with Nigerians calling for its scrapping, resulting in the inspector general of police’s announcement that the unit will be reorganised.
The police unit has been accused of alleged brutality and indiscriminate violations of human rights by many Nigerians.
Weighing in on the matter, Odumakin called on the federal government to immediately set up a panel of enquiry to ascertain the number and cases of human rights abuses perpetrated by SARS in the past.
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She told The Cable that whatever reorganisation being done by the police could not be seen as completed without full investigations into all alleged violations.
“It is the responsibility of all Nigerians in general not that of just a few agitators or members of the Civil society to demand a reorganization of the SARS. Even though the strategic role of the force is crucial in our country, that should not be taken as a licence for arbitrariness on the part of its people,” Odumakin told TheCable.
“What the SARS as a body requires is the same thing that all arms of our security agencies require, even the SARS has become synonymous with arbitrariness beyond the imaginations of so many Nigerians, as we can see in the agitations calling for its abolition”
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“what we are demanding for as a people is immediate reorganization of the squad and a probe of all atrocities that may have been committed by these bad elements within the squad. I personally demand a panel of enquiry to be set up by the government, anyone found culpable should be dismissed and charged to court to serve as a deterrent for others.”
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