By Golok Nanmwa,Jos

Following the killing of innocent persons and dehumanization of innocent citizens by the Special Anti-Robbery Squad (SARS) ,the Convener of Hope Initiative Bashir Abdullahi II on Thursday lamented the high-level of human rights abuses by security agencies in the country .

He also appealed to the Federal Government to deploy members of SARS and other tactical teams in the police to the North East to fight Boko Haram, Kidnappers and Bandits stressing that they are more needed in the North East .

“I call on the Senate to begin a probe into human rights abuses by Security Agencies, especially extrajudicial killings of innocent Nigerians by men of the Special Anti-robbery Squad (SARS) and urged the Inspector- General of Police, IGP, Mohammed Adamu to as a matter of urgency, arrest and prosecute all Security personnel that has been involved in this act of extrajudicial killing with a view to bringing them to book as well as serve as a deterrent to others.

He said that the disregard for human rights is prevalent within the police force, Detainees are often denied their legal right to see a lawyer, many have to pay for food , In many cases, detainees wait for weeks or months in police custody to be charged and brought before a court this is so wrong .

Bashir who is also the founder and Chief Executive Officer of Konad Group made this known while speaking with our correspondent in Jos .

According to him ” information reaching us say that men of SARS are still conducting searches on some roads in the country , we call on the men and officers to comply with the IGP’s prohibition of SARS and personnel of other units of the Nigeria Police Force (NPF) from routine checks on the highways and within cities.”

“The rule of law ought to reign supreme over arbitrary and capricious exercise of police power. The fundamental rights of Nigerian citizens including the constitutional rights of criminal suspects, detainees and even criminal convicts are clearly stipulated in our 1999 Constitution. Every citizen is presumed innocent until proved guilty by a court of law of competent jurisdiction.

He commended the IGP for banning FSARS and other police tactical units from stop-and-search duties and urged the relevant security authorities to conduct investigations and serve justice.

Abdullahi II said that the squad had derailed from the primary purpose of tackling armed robbery that it was established for.

“Members of the SARS are doing things that are different from their training, “he said.

He called for stiff punishment for any Police man who violates the code of conduct to serve as a deterrent to others.

He also charged Nigerians to be of good behavior and obey the laws of the country.”

Bashir also called for adequate funding of the force for training and retraining of its personnel and to acquire modern equipment for effective service delivery.

“I call on the Federal Government to ensure that all personnel of the Police must undergo a medical and psychological evaluation to ascertain their suitability for the job and also ensure routine evaluation from time to time

The Convener also said he would mobilize for a protest if this extra judicial killings of innocent persons continues ” ,if we can vote for Laycon the winner of the 2020 Big Brother Nigeria lockdown with over 900 million votes ,then we can mobilize a million youth to occupy all police formations nationwide until a reform is carried out. Enough is Enough he added .

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SARS: Bashir Abdullahi II condemns extra judicial killings of innocent citizens