When Tunde Arigbabu (not real names) stepped out of his house in the Ijaiye Ojokoro area of Lagos State that fateful morning in June this year, he would not have entertained, even slightly, the idea that he would not be by his desk at his Ikeja office latest two hours from the time. But just as he alighted from the commercial motorcycle that took him to Ijaiye bus stop, he was accosted by mean-looking armed men with only the black T-shirts and Polo with the inscription: Special Anti-Robbery Squad (SARS) as official identification.
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With a bag containing his laptop slung on his shoulder, he was an easy prey promptly ferried off. “What they call a station is not even where they are domiciled. They just dropped me off at a station and went away.
I am even sure that the DPO of that station knew nothing about the five of us kept there because unlike others whose voices we heard and saw once in a while, they only came back after the bail bond of N20,000 was ready,” he said.
The case of Tunde is like many young men and in a few unusual cases, young women. They have at one time or the other been victims of harassment by police officers attached to SARS, either at the federal level or state.
A visit to the Adeniji Police Station where the men of the Federal SARS use, reveals a picture of dejection and hopelessness among relatives of those unlucky enough to be cast in detention.
One of those who spoke with Saturday Telegraph said: “This place is like a country on its own because the officers would tell you they can do anything and get away with it and it is clear they are not joking. One of them told us point blank that ‘this place is not for small cases like people fighting or owing each other money.
We only handle lucrative cases here.’ Imagine that.” Such instances of sheer beating people into submission, untold harassment and more led to the trending #EndSARS which took charge of the Nigerian social media space recently, with many people telling a story of woe or another of their encounter with the dreaded men of SARS.
Created as an elite division that will help fight crime, and armed robbery with resolute force and utmost dedication, the squad seems to have turned on young Nigerians.
As at the last count, even notable entertainment personalities like Folarin Falana (Falz), Sarz, Ebuka Obi-Uchendu, Tillaman and others have narrated their nightmarish encounters with SARS. For the officers involved, however, the complaints of the citizens seem far from the things that are bothering their minds.
With an array of luxury automobiles like the Muraino SUV, Infinity SUV and the coveted Ranger Rover Sport that they drive around when they are not at work and lavish lifestyle, sometimes it takes more than glances to be able to distinguish the police from the crime lords on whose trail they volunteer everything for fatherland (at least in principle).
One of the SARS operatives, Ikem Ogah (not real name), agrees that the lines between officers like himself and kidnappers, armed robbers and oil bunkering bandits are blurred in many places.
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