The directive dovetails into an area that is questionable because the National Human Rights Commission does not need such extralegal directive to do the job for which the enabling law set it up.

Emmanuel Onwubiko

For many years since the coming of the current democratic epochs since 1999, successive governments have managed to wriggle their ways out of very complex and challenging situations through a combination of politically correct policy pronouncements and outright deception.

Nigerians are rated to be some of the most gullible people all over the World. At a point, one of the military despots was quoted as saying that Nigerians are the easiest people to govern because when you push them to the wall, rather than bounce back and fight back, typical Nigerians will break the wall and run away.

Successive federal and state administrations have played on this infamous gullibility of the citizenry to push through some of the most atrocious policies that have inflicted pains on a very large scale because the masses accept hook, line and sinker, those evil policies without asking rational questions. For instance, the current government hiked pump prices of fuel three times but Nigerians accepted to suffer and smile rather than embark on civil protests.

The current federal government has therefore continued from where others stopped and has scaled up the use of deception as a style of administration. The only possible point of departure is that in the current era, the elevation of total falsehood to official past time has further compounded the lack of clarity regarding some of the Major policy directives coming out of the different levels of government.

What is really an issue here and now remains the public pronouncement by Professor Yemi Osinbajo, the acting president regarding the existence or otherwise of the notorious unit within the policing institution known as Special Anti-robbery squad or SARS.

READ ALSO: Osinbajo orders overhaul of SARS

The Acting President states thus: “Following persistent complaints and reports on the activities of the Special Anti-Robbery Squad (SARS) that border on allegations of human rights violations, Acting President Yemi Osinbajo, SAN, has directed the Inspector General of Police (IGP) to, with immediate effect, overhaul the management and activities of SARS and ensure that any Unit that will emerge from the process, will be intelligence-driven and restricted to the prevention and detection of armed robbery and kidnapping, and apprehension of offenders linked to the stated offences, and nothing more.”

Related News

The Acting President had also directed the IGP to ensure that all operatives in the emerging Unit conduct their operations in strict adherence to the rule of law and with due regard to International Human Rights Law and the constitutionally guaranteed rights of suspects. The operatives should also bear proper identification anytime they are on duty.

The directive dovetails into an area that is questionable because the National Human Rights Commission does not need such extralegal directive to do the job for which the enabling law set it up.

However the office of the acting President stated that in the meantime, the Acting President has directed the National Human Rights Commission to set up a Special Panel that will conduct an investigation of the alleged unlawful activities of SARS in order to afford members of the general public the opportunity to present their grievances with a view to ensuring redress.

READ ALSO: NHRC, CISLAC sign MoU to improve rights promotion, protection

The police authority immediately responded by releasing a lengthy media statement disclosing all the strategies they intend to adopt to comply with the order from the acting President. The Inspector General of Police said he had already complied. He said the outfit will now be known as federal special anti-robbery squad (FSARS). All SARS teams nationwide have been collapsed under fsars. In the new arrangement, a new Commissioner of Police has been appointed as the overall head of the Federal Special Anti-Robbery Squad nationwide, the IGP glibly announced. “The Federal Special Anti-Robbery Squad previously under the Force Criminal Intelligence and Investigations Department (FCIID) is henceforth to operate under the Department of Operations, Force Headquarters Abuja. The Commissioner of Police (FSARS) is answerable to the Inspector General of Police through the Deputy Inspector General of Police, Department of Operations”, he stressed.

Not done yet with rhetoric, the IGP told Nigerians also that a new Standard Operational Guidelines and Procedures, and code of conduct for all FSARS personnel to ensure that the operations of the Federal Special Anti-Robbery Squad is in strict adherence to the rule of law and with due regards to international human rights laws are being worked out. Furthermore, he stated that a new training program to be organized by the Force in collaboration with some Civil Society Organizations (CSOs), Local and International NGOs, and other Human Rights Organizations on core Police Duties, Observant of Human Rights and Handling, Care and Custody of Suspects have been directed by the Inspector General of Police for all Federal SARS personnel nationwide with immediate effect. A committee of Senior Police officers, Technical Consultants, Human Rights/Civil Society organizations (CSOs) has been setup to review the activities of FSARS under the new arrangement, he announced with joy.

He gave this new baby of the police the following term of reference: “They are to pay unscheduled visits to FSARS formations across the country with particular attention to States with high complaints index, to assess facilities and situations in these States and submit report to the Inspector General of Police on regular basis.” The police didn’t do a thorough job. What are the identities of all these human rights activists they have already railroaded into a technical visitation committee to oversee compliance to human rights provisions by the police?

READ ALSO: Overhauling the SARS

Although the directive on SARS by the acting president is in consonance with section 215 (3) of the constitution which provides that: “The president or such other minister of the government of the federation as he may authorize in that behalf may give to the IGP such lawful directions with respect to the maintenance and securing of public safety and public order as he may consider necessary and the IGP shall comply with those directions or cause them to be complied with,” the police responses seem like tissues of propaganda devoid of evidential and verifiable facts. I have had sufficient time to read through the directive and also the responses from the police and there are questions that are still hanging and indeed these unanswered questions have inevitably portrayed the entire exercise as a scam and a gambit put up by politicians to hoodwink the members of the public who have overwhelmingly rejected SARS in its entirety.

 

Onwubiko heads the Human Rights Writers Association of Nigeria (HURIWA) and blogs at www.emmanuelonwubiko.com