How To Seek Redress When Harassed By SARS

Nigerians can now call or text whenever their human rights are violated by operatives of the Special Anti-Robbery Squad, SARS as the Inspector General of Police, IGP Ibrahim Idris, set up Public a Complaint Response Team on SARS- and gives out contact details through which complaints can be lodged by the general public.

IGP Idris set up a six-member team to receive and investigate petitions against operatives of the SARS who have been accused of human rights violation in recent times.

Members of the Public Complaint Response Team on SARS were drawn from civil society groups and private sector.The team also consists of IGP X-Squad, IGP Monitoring Unit, Force Public Complaint Bureau, Public Complaint Rapid Response Unit, a non-governmental organization, the Nigeria Policing Programme led by Professor Olu Ogunsakin and a civil society coalition, EnoughIsEnough.

Jimoh Moshood, an Assistant Commissioner of Police and Force spokesperson stated that anyone with complaints of violation of their rights by SARS operatives should report to members of the team for investigation and further actions .He said the complainants could contact the complaint response team through the IGP X-Squad on 09026900729, 08078662130, 08174041000 (calls), 09032278905 (SMS) and 09035621377 (WhatsApp) and email: integrityxsquad@gmail.com; and the IGP Monitoring Unit via igpmonitoringabj@yahoo.com and 08036242591.Other contacts include the Force Public Complaint Bureau, 07056792065, 08088450152, calls/SMS/WhatsApp, email: bailisfree@gmail.com, pressforabuja@gmail.com, Twitter: @PoliceNG and www.facebook.com/ngpolice;PCRRU, 08057000001, 08057000002 (calls), 08057000003 (SMS & WhatsApp) Twitter: @PoliceNG_PCRRU and www.facebook.com/PolicePCRRU;Nigeria Policing Programme, oluogunsakin@hotmail.com and eienigeria.org

The police have initially commenced investigation into allegations that a Special Anti Robbery Squad (SARS) member extorted N10,500 from a young man in Ibadan, Oyo state. The man who goes by the name Olamide on Twitter had alleged that he was stopped on his way from work and because the police found an application on his mobile phone, he was detained and had to eventually transfer N10,500 to one of the officers.