#EndSARS: Falana, Oyebode, Others Call for Restructuring of Police Unit

– Falana calls for adequate training on engagement for SARS

– Oyebode calls for a utilitarian balance between efforts of the squad to wage war against criminals and anti-social element

There have been several calls for the restructuring of a unit in Nigeria Police Force, Special Anti Robbery Squad (SARS).

Lending his voice to the call, Professor Akin Oyebode; Femi Falana, both a Senior Advocates of Nigeria, have reiterated the calls for the restructuring of the unit.

SARS has been in the news over alleged indiscriminate arrests, maiming, extorting money and even killing Nigerians, especially the youth.

Recently, members of the squad were accused of killing a youth identified as Kolade Johnson in the Onipetesi area of Lagos while watching an English Premier League football match at a viewing centre.

Johnson’s murder sparked outrage, with many Nigerians tweeting the hashtag #ENDSARS to end the squad’s inhuman activities.

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At a three-day training workshop organised by the Coalition for Good Governance and Justice in conjunction with the  Nigeria Police Force for officers and men of the Akwa Ibom Police Command. in Uyo, Akwa Ibom State capital, Falana, Oyebode, as well as human rights activists Olasupo Ojo, Gloria Egbuji and Debo Adeniran, called for SARS’s restructuring rather than outright disbandment.

Oyebode, during his presentation, noted that since its creation, SARS had been in the news more for a bad reason than good.

Speaking on its relative achievements and usefulness in fighting armed robbery and sundry crimes, Oyebode called for a utilitarian balance between efforts of the squad to wage war against criminals and anti-social elements without doing grave damage and injustice to the tenets of rule of law, good governance and social wellbeing.

Similarly, Falana, while speaking on the theme, ‘Continuous relevance of SARS under the current democratic dispensation,’ said rather than disband SARS, its operatives should be continuously trained, equipped and motivated.

Another human rights lawyer, Ojo advised the police and particularly SARS operatives to understand and successfully apply their training in human rights to their career.

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