Torture, extortion, and killings of Nigerian youth

In Nigeria, the Special Anti-Robbery Squad is being protested against. The Anti-Robbery Squad is a division that has been accused of abusing the human rights of the Nigerian youth for a very long time. A prime example of this is Obianuju Iloanya, whose brother was last seen 8 years ago, after being detained by the police unit, he was never seen again. Recently in the month of October 2020, a video surfaced online showing an officer from the Special Anti-Robbery Squad killing a male.

After all of the protests taking place the president, Muhammadu Buhari announced that he will be disbanding the Special Anti-Robbery Squad. He also announced that he will be implementing a pay raise for Nigeria’s 350,000 police officers so they will be less tempted to extort the residents of Nigeria. It is important to note that the Special Anti-Robbery Squad has been disbanded and renamed many times in the previous years, however, the brutality does not stop. Yele Bademosi was one of the protestors that was forced to go to the ARM and withdraw money and hand it over to Special Anti-Robbery Squad officers last year.

This stuff needs to be stopped now. If we can’t trust our own police force, who do we call when we need help?

References: 

Munshi, N. (2020, October 15). Youth of Nigeria force Buhari’s hand as anger at police brutality boils over. Retrieved from Financial Times: https://www.ft.com/content/777c9f4e-e071-49c8-98f6-abcd2e8b0d76