FSARS: Amnesty condemns lame attempt to reform police unit

Amnesty International has knocked Nigerian authorities for failing to seriously crack down on the extra-judicial activities of officers of the Federal Special Anti-Robbery Squad (FSARS) of the Nigeria Police Force.

Officers of the tactical unit have become public enemy number one over the past few years for numerous acts of abuse including harassment, extortion, torture, and extra-judicial murder.

Millions of Nigerians have campaigned for years to have the unit scrapped after numerous high profile incidents that eroded public trust in them.

The campaign has been largely sidestepped by authorities who have instead announced reforms over the years that have failed to properly curb the unit's menace.

The latest outrage against FSARS over the past weekend led the Inspector-General of Police, Mohammed Adamu, to announce a number of restrictions to their operations on Sunday, October 4, 2020.

Amnesty said on Tuesday, October 6 the repeated pledges to reform the notorious unit and investigate violations have yielded no tangible results.

"This is yet another lame attempt to rein in this unit of the Nigerian police which is notorious for the widespread torture and other ill-treatment of Nigerians.

"We have seen from bitter experience that past investigations into violations were either never carried out or marred by irregularities.

"To date, the Nigerian authorities have yet to show a genuine commitment to ending the lawless activities of SARS," Osai Ojigho, Director of Amnesty International Nigeria, said.

Osai Ojigho, Director of Amnesty International Nigeria, says officers must be made accountable [Amnesty] ece-auto-gen

Ojigho said the abuse of power FSARS officers are known for won't reduce unless offenders are held to account for their actions and face disciplinary or criminal punishment.

Amnesty noted that the current outrage by Nigerians should provide another useful opportunity for authorities to put an end to police brutality and all form of human rights violations by the police.

The human right watchdog organisation said the government must empower oversight bodies to investigate and initiate prosecution of police officers who are involved in the violation of human rights.

"The authorities have an obligation to protect Nigerians and bring to justice those who violate their human rights," Ojigho said.

Police spokesperson, Frank Mba, said earlier on Tuesday that, contrary to public demand, FSARS cannot be scrapped because of how useful it is to crime-fighting.

"What we need to do is to reform SARS and make them responsive, responsible and make them work in accordance with laid down procedures.

"We need them to continue to respond to violent crimes. We need them to continue to respond to armed robberies. We need them to continue to respond to kidnappings," Mba said.

According to new measures approved by IGP Adamu, FSARS and other tactical squads are banned from carrying out routine patrols, and other conventional low-risk duties including stop and search duties, checkpoints, mounting of roadblocks, and traffic checks.

They are also banned from embarking on patrols or assignments without official uniform or tactical gear.

"The IGP has warned the tactical squads against the invasion of the privacy of citizens particularly through indiscriminate and unauthorized search of mobile phones, laptops and other smart devices.

"They are to concentrate and respond only to cases of armed robbery, kidnapping and other violent crimes when the need arises," an official statement read.

Many Nigerians have expressed little confidence in the new measures, especially since they were measures similarly announced in 2017, 2018, and 2019.

Despite the IGP's moves, there are a series of protests scheduled to take place against police brutality in some states this week.