By Ishaya Ibrahim, News Editor
The trauma unleashed on Awkuzu, Anambra community by the Special Anti-Robbery Squad (SARS), lingers even after the unit has been disbanded and its facility converted to a normal police station, investigations by this News medium, revealed.
On a sunny afternoon of October 21, 2020, almost 10 days after the then Inspector General of Police (IGP) Mohammed Adamu announced the scrapping of SARS, TheNiche in the company of a fact-finding team of the Action Group on Free Civic Space (AGFCS) visited the community to get the views of the residents on the news.
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A car-wash outfit was the first call where four elderly men sat under a canopy. They were nice and courteous. They seemed relaxed, of course, it was a public space – a car-wash. A few jokes were shared to make the scene lighter. And the scene was so until a member of the visiting team, Zikora Ibeh, told them that the group was documenting cases of SARS abuses in Awkuzu.
The mood instantly became tensed, but still friendly. The men were eager to share their stories, but too scared because they were not also sure if the discussion was secretly being recorded. Zikora assured them that their privacy would be respected, their identity won’t be jeopardized. With the assurance given, they gladly narrated their experiences.
They reported that their children had not been coming home because being young and looking good in Awkuzu was enough to make one a SARS target. They narrated how, once taken into the SARS facility, some of the police officers who would pretend to be nice would advise them to sell their landed property and use the money to resolve the case which in most cases, would not be less than N500,000.
The experience of these Awkuzu men who were in the mid 60’s, have made them cynical of Nigeria. The team thanked them and left.
The next stop was a stone’s throw, a mechanic workshop where at least six men, all in their 50’s were having a discussion on some interesting subject. Once introductions were made, one of the men left, saying he was a Biafran and was uninterested in Nigeria’s problem.
The others listened and wanted to be sure whether members of the team were genuine. They were assured that the visitors were activists seeking only how best to protect citizens’ rights. But like the first group, they were also cynical because of their experiences dealing with Awkuzu SARS, a unit of the police that was supposed to protect them from armed robberies but turned to become their tormentors.
The team left Awkuzu unable to meet anyone that would agree to speak on camera. In fact, one of the men whispered to the visitors to leave the scene because he was convinced the police might somehow find out their mission and put them in harm’s way. It is obvious that the ghost of SARS still lives in Awkuzu long after the unit has been disbanded.
This report, the second in a series, is from a fact-finding mission of the Action Group on Free Civic Space to the South-East on police brutality. The full report is titled #EndSARS: Police Brutality and Shrinking Civic Space, published by Spaces for Change, on behalf of the Action Group.
