Nigeria, Africa's capital of cultural, economic, and political trends, is amid protest. These protests are against SARS, the Special Anti-Robbery Squad, an organization that has been proven to be corrupt and excessively violent. SARS was originally created in 1984, to help end a country-wide spread of violent crimes, such as robberies, kidnappings, and carjacking. In it's first few years, SARS greatly helped Nigeria, but it quickly turned into what it had stood against, a unit full of corrupt individuals and criminals with immunity from the law.
Amnesty International is an non-governmental organization that focuses on human rights, and fights for them. Amnesty International investigated SARS and issued a report in June that documented at least 82 cases between January of 2017 and May of 2020, of mostly young men (aged 18-25), who had low-income backgrounds, and were from vulnerable groups, that faced ill-treatment, torture, and executions that were not legally consented upon. Amnesty said that the failure of the Nigerian government to confront this issue was “an absolute disregard for international human rights laws and standards” (Amnesty International Report). The person who founded SARS, former police commissioner, Fulani Kwajafa, has even condemned SARS, saying it has "turned into banditry" (BBC Interview).
The actions of SARS have taken a toll on Nigerian people for years, but the protests recently erupted after a video of SARS officers killing a man for no reason went viral. SARS claims the video is fake, and arrested the person who took it. This incited even more anger, and protests broke out. In Lagos, demonstrations are happening everywhere, many of the protesters are young and demanding that the government dismantles SARS and address police brutality. These protests are extremely similar to the BLM protests that have been happening in America, but instead of asking for the police to be defunded, they are asking for more funds to be given to the police system so it can be reformed and actually focused on protecting and helping Nigeria.
The President of Nigeria agreed to end SARS, but plans on redistributing the SARS officers to other areas of the police force. The protesters are not accepting that, and demanding that the officers are fired, and that some are prosecuted. The protests are continuing to get more and more violent, especially after Tuesday night, when a peaceful protest in Lagos was fired upon by the police, killing at least 12 of the protesters. The death toll continues to rise as the conditions grow more violent. The Vice President had a meeting with a a few U.S. diplomats (including top human rights diplomats) regarding the protest this past week, where the US representatives disapproved of the killing of the peaceful protesters in Lagos. From this point on, all eyes should be turned to Nigeria, and hopefully, they will gain support from other nations in their fight for justice.
Works Cited
ABC News, ABC News Network, abcnews.go.com/International/senior-us-delegation-meets-nigerias-vice-president-killing/story?id=73782243.
Gladstone, Rick, and Megan Specia. “Why Nigeria Is Now Erupting.” The New York Times, The New York Times, 21 Oct. 2020, www.nytimes.com/article/sars-nigeria-police.html.
“In Nigeria Police Continue to Torture with Impunity.” Amnesty International, June 2020, www.amnesty.org/en/latest/news/2020/06/nigeria-horrific-reign-of-impunity-by-sars-makes-mockery-of-anti-torture-law/.
A very thorough article.
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