#EndSARS : A Statement
The Special Anti-Robbery Squad more known by the acronym, SARS was founded in 1992 by former Nigerian police commissioner, Simeon Danladi Midenda. The original aim was to operate in the shadows and curtail crime at a time when the Nigerian Police Force were forced into hiding after a clash with the Nigerian Army.
SARS would later become a public unit, one of the 14 in the Force Criminal Investigation and Intelligence Department with an established aim "to detain, investigate and prosecute people involved in crimes like armed robbery, kidnapping and other forms of crimes."
It is thus unimaginable that SARS in recent years have become the very thing which they were established to fight; a bunch of uniformed criminals but unlike any other, with a license to harrass, rob, kill Nigerian youths in the name of carrying out their duties. There isn't a more aggravating irony.
The continuous operation of this so called security unit without any 'genuine' check by the Nigerian government is the stroke that has broken the camel's back.
We at Book O’Clock cannot remain silent in the face of oppression. The brutality of these armed men must stop. We stand—albeit our backs being broken in solidarity with the thousands of Nigerian youths out there protesting against SARS. We lend our voice and say #EndSARS! Not Tomorrow. Not next year. But now.
