
Distinguished Citizens of Nigeria.
We have registered our strident discontent, displeasure and disappointment in the Police Service, especially as they ludicrously try to defend the indefensible and give steam to their blackmail, intimidation and attempts at silencing the voice of the people.
The Rogue unit – SARS has since become an Extermination squad and extortion syndicate, operating whimsically and capriciously across Nigerian States.
When you have a Police Service that operates without limits, – that which proclaims the rights to arrest, torture and kill anyone, anywhere with no warrants, no trial and no due process.
Chanting with pride:
I will kill you and Nothing will happen
When you have a Police structure that militarizes its Units and grants them the power to operate with impunity within your own borders.
The SARS are working perfectly – Force PRO
The Police arrangement that views you the people as the enemy and treats you as such.
A Police structure that lies, deceives and weaponizes its authority.
A Police Unit that kills thousands of harmless civilians simply because they felt it is a profitable means of livelihood.
When you have a Police that arrests, abducts, intimidates, implicates, incriminates, rapes, tortures, kills, violates the rights of innocent citizens and incarcerates them indefinitely without charges.
When you have a Police structure that supports terrorism enough to turn deaf ears to the incessant attacks of the populace by their lawless men for no just cause. Then we shouldn’t need to be convinced that it is time to act proactively to protect the future of our children.
In the spirit of understanding, let me continue to clarify for our @PoliceNG & the general public. We are not asking for the Police to be disbanded, we are asking for a shut down of a demonstrably criminal network within the Police structure and a general Police reform.
There is no doubt that the excesses of the Police (brutality and corruption) are undeniably entrenched in the structure due to age-long neglect and the Call for reform has been due for a very long time across our security agencies and government parastatals.
The wake up call is to put a premium on the lives of the future of Nigeria (our youths) who are the target of the menace.
Authorities should see this as a Call to focus on narrowing the gaps between the public and the police, which has created a lot of distrust.
Our authorities should take responsibility and look into those institutional gaps that make it possible for some police personnel to act beyond what the law permits.
The unprofessional attitude of the police is deep and has existed over a long period.
We can all agree that this has been made worse by the lack of appropriate recruitment policy, which is subject to abuse by almost everybody.
As such we end up recruiting persons of questionable characters due to lack of proper vetting.
Every Senator or Rep, every Oba, Chief or Emir, every businessman or woman etc want favors for their “candidates”.
Likewise, we fail to provide appropriate training inline with career progression. These are some of the issues we must tackle if we must move forward. There are No sentiments.
We recall upon assumption of office of the honorable minister of interior, closing the gap between the Police institution and the public was his initial focus but there are some constitutional amendments required to grant his effectiveness in engaging. The Bureau Of public service reforms tried to harmonize these incongruence but their recommendations never saw the light of day. The Police Service is a Law unto itself.
This is not an attack on institutions but a citizens action on systemic rot. It is not just SARS, we’re only using the overwhelming manifestation of impunity within the Police structure as a means of conveying an age-long issue bordering on oppression of the citizenry.
#EndSARS is NOT just a one-off event against SARS, or only a call for Police Reform, it also speaks to impunity of FRSC, as well as all uniformed and un-uniformed agencies and parastatals in Govt. (Politicians using sirens and escorts to oppress and harass commuters etc).
We are calling the attention of our Government to put a premium on the lives of our citizens across Nigeria. We are asking for a conscious system overhaul that has suffered neglect over the years and buried under political rhetorics.
The issue is beyond protests. We have a voice and we control the socialmedia space, even if we are irrelevant in the political space as systemically disenfranchised. We are using our United voices to demand that Govt pay attention to Critical issues that is decimating our people.
We understand that disbanding the police is not an option and that is not what this call is about, because certainly there will be no vacuum because criminals will take over the space.
But the authorities MUST identify the bad eggs & deal with them accordingly, while encouraging those who are good & professional with regards to Police impunity & corruption. Accept the assurances of our regards and best wishes as we await a proper response on the issues raised.
The ideological Movement will continue to stand in the gap to protect the lives of Nigerians and collect data on impunity of all kinds especially on the activities of Police and SARS. We will deploy technologies that will monitor this and flood the media space with our findings.
The Call also emphasizes the security lapses in the country while Police are distracted. This is our common goal void of politics, ethnic and religious bigotry. We owe this to our children who must not wear the chains of slavery and oppression. #EndSARS #ReformPoliceNG
– Segun Awosanya (@segalink) Convener