Police boss places more resriction on SARS

Operatives of the Special Anti-Robbery Squad in Lagos will no longer have the authority to detain suspects.

Lagos Commissioner of Police Hakeem Odumosu stated this on Tuesday morning while on Channels Television‘s programme, Sunrise Daily.

According to him, the members of the squad in Lagos have been sensitized, as directed by IGP Mohammed Adamu.

Adamu had earlier banned SARS and other special units from routine ops like patrol, checkpoints, and stop-and-search functions.

The new directives  are coming following the Sunday nationwide outcry against the brutality of the Nigerian police, especially its SARS squads across the nation.

“It is going to be different because there will be more monitoring and more supervision,” Odumosu said of the new directives.

“The additional directive I gave yesterday (Monday) is that they must not even go to investigate any case without booking their arrival at the Area Commander’s office so that the Area Commander will know that they are in that area doing what they ought to do. And once they finish, they must go back and file entry.

“Secondly, I gave a directive that they must not detain anybody in their cells any longer. They can only detain at my office or at the Area Commander’s office. And the Area Commander must interview any suspect they want to detain and ascertain that the suspect had done what warranted being detained.

“All these are additional measures put in to make sure that the supervision is effective. So, there is more supervision now and it going to be more effective now.”

Vice-President Yemi Osinbajo; the Deputy Senate President, Ovie Omo-Agege; and the Minister of State for Labour and Employment, Festus Keyamo, were among Nigerians condemning the extra-judicial killings and violence the police special units carried out.