A couple of days ago, the Nigeria Police Force Public Relations Office, Assistant Commissioner Olumuyiwa Adejobi, issued what appeared to be a strong disclaimer affirming the fact that the once notorious outfit of the force, the Special Anti Robbery Squad (SARS) remained dissolved. Ordinarily, the statement which was actually a disclaimer to a widespread rumour (should one say speculations) that SARS was still in operation, should be comforting, but of a truth, it was not. For those who do not know the genesis of the issue, it would be wise to take them on the journey that led to the dissolution of SARS.
When violent crimes across the country became so worrisome, the police authorities had to set up this special operations unit called SARS to rein in these sets of very dangerous criminals. For years, SARS did a very good job. And they were praised by Nigerians. And just like everything typical of us Nigerians, SARS became the legendary Frankenstein monster that began to eat everybody, including it’s creator up. At a point, Nigerians became more afraid of SARS than the criminals they were set up to hunt. There were frightening tales of extortion, harassment and extra judicial killings of both innocent and perceived guilty Nigerians, by the SARS operatives. They were everywhere on the highway and on the streets in unmarked cars and commercial buses popularly called danfo and korope, terrorising innocent people who they picked up and took to their gulag and released after monies exchanged hands. Young men with tattoos and or spotting earrings were automatically branded fraudsters(yahoo boys). It did not matter if they were budding artistes or some wannabe Americans who got infected by the American culture by watching too much of their films or music videos. Everybody was scared stiff.
This writer had a brush with SARS on two different occasions during their reign of terror. I had four friends waiting for me at a local pub in the Surulere area of Lagos on a Saturday. I was driving down from Ikoyi but we were on the phone as I reassured them I would soon be with them. As I pulled into the parking lot of the pub, I witnessed a commotion going on as my four friends alongside others were being led into different danfo by SARS operatives. I politely asked one of the operatives wielding a big stick and an AK 47 rifle, what my friends did that warranted their arrest. He raised the big stick to hit me for daring to ask and I won’t forget his exact words: ‘You dey dare ask SARS officer mumu question’? Really?
I followed their buses till we got to this small police post in Cele area along Oshodi/Apapa Expressway. Time was around 10 pm. I was shocked to see over 200 people made to sit on the bare floor in the middle of the police post compound. When I located their leader who sat calmly like a Hitler overseeing his army, he told me to go and bring N50,000 for each of my friends! Their offence was hanging out at a local bar. Nothing incriminating was found on any of them. In fact, one was a woman. That was when I knew that the issue was above me, so I had to call a colleague who plays deep within the police force and he called a top boss who called me and I handed the phone to the SARS’s oga who billed me a total of N200,000 to get my friends released from their captivity. After a brief conversation, he ordered my friends to be set free. That was when I tasted first hand the danger of SARS. My second experience, was when a friend coming from work around 7pm was hounded down at Lawanson Bus Stop and arrested by SARS operatives from Ikeja. When I went to Itire Division of the Nigeria police where he and others were kept on the floor like common criminals, I asked my friend what he did. He said when he saw people running, so he ran. That is a common thing in Lagos. You run when you see people running, you don’t wait to ask why they are running. He never knew it was an early evening raid by SARS. Unluckily for him, he ran blindly into one of the operative’s hands. His release followed the same pattern like the first incident I told you about.
Then, Nigerians got fed up and that was what gave birth to the #EndSARS nationwide protests of October 2020. Before the protests were hijacked by some very not too good people and it became a political thing that was dove tailing into a ‘coup’, some of us who have had close encounters with SARS backed the protest. There is no need to remind you about the massive destruction of both public and private properties by the protesters when they alleged that soldiers killed some of them at the Lekki Toll gate. For the records, some of us do not believe that a massacre took place, but that is an issue for another day.
So, it became important for the then government of former president Muhammadu Buhari to accede to the wishes of the protesters by banning SARS or should one say ‘dismantling’? But some Nigerians including my humble self believe SARS was ‘banned’ with just ‘mouth’, in reality, the present crop of different outfits in the police force are worse than SARS. By the way, SARS was just banned, the same operatives are still in the force and just like the proverbial leopard, they cannot change their spots. They cannot stop the same attitude they were exhibiting when they were under SAR’s umbrella.
The rumours of the reincarnation of SARS got to force headquarters and that was why Adejobi issued that rebuttal titled: “Disclaimer: SARS Remains Dissolved”
Adejobi’s disclaimer read: ‘The Nigeria Police Force wishes to debunk circulating rumors and misinformation speculating the return of the Special Anti-Robbery Squad (SARS) with a reformed set of rules. The Special Anti-Robbery Squad which was disbanded on the 11th of October 2020, remains dissolved. The Special Anti-Robbery Squad (SARS) is not back in operation. The recent information regarding SARS reformation and rules of engagement should be treated with caution. Nigerians are encouraged to verify the source of any information before accepting it as true’.
The Force spokesman advised the public willing to get accurate information about the activities of the police ‘to follow the official handles of the Nigeria Police Force on social media viz @PoliceNG on X, @ngpolice on Facebook, and @nigeriapoliceforce on Instagram. Your safety and awareness are paramount; stay informed and vigilant’.
What Adejobi did not tell the public in his disclaimer or perhaps he was not aware of it, was the existence of another outfit, deadlier and more brutal in its mode of operation. It is called the Federal Tactical Squad (FTS)!
The fear of the Federal Tactical Squad is now the beginning of wisdom in Lagos and other parts of the country. This outfit operates from an unmarked building in the Second Rainbow area of Lagos, close to FESTAC Town. The Federal Tactical Squad’s mode of operation is not different from that of the disbanded SARS, so it is safe to assume that former operatives of SARS were just seconded into this somewhat new outfit that the police authorities are yet to inform Nigerians of it’s existence, at least publicly, like we were all aware of SARS.
SAR’s nefarious activities were child’s play compared to this new outfit’s. They operate all over Lagos, so, technically, SARS is still existing but in a different name if not, how does one describe a situation where young people are rounded up in lounges, bars or sitting in front of their homes in Gestapo style, taken to this Second Rainbow office and from nowhere, hard drugs and guns are placed in their front and are accused of either drug dealing or armed robbery and unless they pay 50,000 naira, they will be paraded before the media at Ikeja headquarters?
In early December 2024, four young men went to this snooker bar on Eric Moore, Surulere. All they wanted was to have a drink, shoot some snooker balls and go home. That was their plan. The Federal Tactical Squad had a different plan for them. Around 9pm, the relaxation spot was swooped upon by operatives of the FTS, over 20 people, both young and old were packed like sardines in different danfos and taken to the Second Rainbow office of the FTS. Obi, one of the four young men this writer knows narrated his ordeal. ‘We had to lap each other in the danfo that night till we got to Second Rainbow. Immediately we got there, they took our phones and out of nowhere, they brought a bag of ‘igbo'(marijuana), guns and put it in our front and one of them was making a video and taking pictures too. That was when I knew I was in big trouble’.
According to Obi, they were left there till around 2 am when one of them came back to announce that if they do not want to be taken to Ikeja headquarters, they should pay 50,000 naira each. Phones were handed over to those who were willing to do the money transfer immediately and to others who had the need to call family members and friends for assistance. A POS account was conveniently provided and for those with debit cards, a machine was handy. The FTS are not joking around. They mean business. ‘We were over 100, including women, taken from different locations because we could not be more than 30 taken at the snooker bar, so when I made a mental calculation, those guys made over 10 million in one night, that is if everyone paid the 50,000. I did not have enough in my account, so, it was Figo (one of the four of them) who made up the difference’, Obi recalled.
Ohi James was unwinding under the row of trees on Mogaji Street, Ijesha , Surulere, when operatives of the FTS swooped on him and his friend. Similar scenario that played out between Obi and his friends at the FTS, played out too.
‘Me wey nor dey smoke ordinary cigar(cigarette) naim dem pack igbo (Indian hemp) for my front. Las las, na 36k me and my friend pay dem to release us’, James said looking very pained. James is a CCTV and cable TV installer, a young man who makes his money legitimately. His only crime was to go and have a drink with a friend!
The question any reasonable person should ask is, if the people the FTS raided and arrested were actually hardened criminals, so, 50,000 was enough to let kidnappers, gun runners and or drug dealers free?
Who constituted this new outfit in the police force that is behaving worse than SARS? Why are the police authorities quiet on informing the public about this new outfit because at least the public deserves to know about a group of heavily armed people in mufti and operating with danfo and korope buses instead of police vans?
What was SARS doing that was different from what this ‘Federal Tactical Squad’ are doing now? Same extortion of hapless young and old Nigerians, so? Is there something fundamentally wrong with the Nigeria police force that it’s operatives cannot do without extorting monies from members of the public?
Akpovi-Esade is a journalist and media lobbyist
