The Vice President of Nigeria, Yemi Osinbajo said President Muhammadu Buhari wants to see reforms in the Nigerian Police force.
This was disclosed in a statement by the Presidency on Sunday evening after the Vice President met with the IG of Police.
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Vice President @ProfOsinbajo today met with the Inspector General of Police, on issues of police reform.
“We reviewed several of these issues. The President and I have had discussions on this, he is very concerned about it. He wants to see a reform.” — VP @ProfOsinbajo
— Presidency Nigeria (@NGRPresident) October 4, 2020
Nairametrics reported earlier that the Inspector-General of Police, M.A Adamu, has banned the Federal Special Anti-Robbery Squad (FSARS) and other Tactical Squads of the Force, including the Special Tactical Squad (STS), Intelligence Response Team (IRT), Anti-Cultism Squad operating at the Federal, Zonal, and Command levels, from carrying out routine patrols and other conventional low-risk duties.
This comes after online outrage over the weekend, that saw Atiku Abubakar, Bukola Saraki, and other prominent Nigerians call for reforms, over the despicable actions of the SARS unit.
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The Vice President said he and the Police IG discussed on the topics of police reforms, “We reviewed several of these issues. The President and I have had discussions on this, he is very concerned about it. He wants to see reforms.”
“I am very concerned, in fact, very angry about what I see, happening to young men and women who are arrested, in some cases maimed or killed by men of the police force.”
The VP added that the violations are “completely unacceptable because these are individuals who are meant to protect Nigerians. The arrest, maiming, or killing of young people or anyone at all, is completely wrong. It is unlawful and illegal, and anyone involved in these acts ought to be investigated and prosecuted.”
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He said the Police force has issued a statement looking at all the issues, especially on the use of SARS for purposes of doing anything other than anti-robbery.
The VP also said that SARS responsibility is not arresting young Nigerians for Cybercrime, just because they are carrying their laptops and phones.
“We must see this as something we all must work together to achieve, as individuals, to bring to the attention of the police and government, where there have been violations.
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“and on the part of the government and the police; to ensure that every one of those allegations is properly investigated and those found responsible are prosecuted and publicized.“
“Cybercrime is electronic crime. I don’t see how you can investigate that by seizing people’s phones in a taxi or in their cars,” Osinbajo said.
God punish this SARS,they must be stopped once and for all… There are really killing innocent people.