Angry 120 SARS operatives prepare to leave Lagos Police Command

Juliana Francis

Nothing less than 120 operatives of the Special Anti-Robbery Squad (SARS), Ikeja, Lagos State Police Command have applied to be transferred out of the unit, a source disclosed.

The panic transfer came on the heel of a signal received from Force Headquarters, Abuja, from the Inspector-General of Police, Ibrahim Idris, on Thursday, dishing out new law and orders as the determination to overhaul SARS gathers momentum.

A police source disclosed that at least 120 SARS operatives had applied for transfer from the unit, stressing that to remain was really a “suicide mission.”

A police wireless message, sent to different commands across the nation, which was made available to our correspondent, revealed that SARS operatives, with immediate effect, “should desist from wearing FSARS/SARS black uniforms or any other dress earlier approved. Accordingly, all personnel must wear normal police uniforms, displaying clearly their name tags, force numbers in the case of the rank and files, police identification tags, pending IGP’s determination pf their operational dress code. The IGP further directs that any officer who flouts this directive will be severely sanctioned, while supervising officers under whom this order is flouted will be held liable. Treat as very important please.”

To further underscore Idris’s instruction, the Lagos State Commissioner of Police, Mr Edgal Imohimi, ordered all policemen under his watch to immediately be on police uniform. This include operatives of X-squad and monitoring units.”

Another police source said: “Majority of the SARS men have chosen to leave the SARS’ unit. The application, asking to be transferred is called demobbing. It is allowed in police. These SARS men said it wouldn’t be easy for them to chase after armed robbers and kidnappers while in full police uniform. It will make them to become easy targets for these criminals. They called it a suicide mission. Nobody wants to die. They have wives and children. If they are killed by armed robbers, nobody cares for their wives or children.”

It will be recalled that on Tuesday, Idris, in compliance with the Presidential directives ordered the immediate overhauling of SARS, in order to address complaints and allegations on human rights violations against some of the personnel of SARS, from members of the public in some parts of the country.

In the new arrangement, a new Commissioner of Police was appointed as the overall head of the FSARS and SARS nationwide. The FSARS, which was previously under the Force Criminal Intelligence and Investigations Department (FCIID) is now to operate under the Department of Operations, Force Headquarters Abuja.

The Commissioner of Police (FSARS) is answerable to the Inspector General of Police through the Deputy Inspector General of Police, Department of Operations.

A new Standard Operational Guidelines and Procedures, and code of conduct for all FSARS personnel to ensure that the operations of the Federal Special Anti-Robbery Squad is in strict adherence to the rule of law and with due regards to international human rights law and constitutionally guaranteed rights of suspects will be enforced in totality by the Commissioner of Police, FSARS.