Former Inspector General of Police, Mohammed Adamu, on October 11, 2020, announced the disbandment of the police unit following nationwide protests over its brutality.
The Law Students’ Association of Nigeria (LAWSAN) has condemned the alleged police brutality against one of its members from the Rivers State University, Menegbo Gospel.
SaharaReporters had reported how Gospel was assaulted by policemen wearing the branded uniform of the notorious unit of the Nigeria Police Force, which was disbanded last year after #EndSARS protests, the Special Anti-Robbery Squad (SARS) in Rivers State.
SARS was notorious for brutality, extrajudicial killings, and human rights abuses.
Former Inspector General of Police, Mohammed Adamu, on October 11, 2020, announced the disbandment of the police unit following nationwide protests over its brutality.
Speaking with SaharaReporters, the law student alleged that the officers accused him of recording them and forcibly collected his phone from him.
He added that he was assaulted, forced inside a dirty gutter and made to crawl from one end to the other.
Godswill said he was left alone after the officers went through his phone and realised he was not recording them.
Reacting in a statement, Attah Gideon Agbese, National Director of LAWSAN National Directorate of Students' Rights described the act by the policemen as barbaric.
Agbese called on the police authorities to fish out the “perpetrators of this heinous act and let justice have its full course.”
He said, “It is with utter dismay that I write, on behalf of the Directorate of Students’ Rights, Law Students’ Association of Nigeria (LAWSAN), to strongly register the displeasure of the Law Students over the unwarranted and despicable brutality of one of our colleagues, Mr. Menegbo Gospel, a Law Student in Rivers State University by the officers of the Nigerian Police Force at Stadium Road, Port Harcourt, Rivers State on Wednesday, 9th March, 2022 (yesterday) around 10AM.
“Mr. Gospel, on the aforesaid day, left home in the morning at around 10AM to a crowd of people at a mechanic workshop by Stadium Road, Port Harcourt. When he got closer to the scene, he learned that someone had allegedly tried to snatch a car and members of the ‘See for eyes’ special force, Ojoto Division, Port Harcourt, Rivers State were present to arrest the culprit. He stood, as others, and watched the officers beat up the handcuffed young man mercilessly.
“While he observed the incident unfold into a gory sight, he received a notification on his phone and immediately brought out the device to check his messages. He had not unlocked his device when one of the officers sighted the phone from a distance and suddenly reached to snatch it from him. When the officer approached him, he seized the phone saying that he was making videos of them.
“To his surprise, another one swiftly ripped his shirt, leaving him with only his trousers and then began hitting him with a serpentine belt torturously without letting him explain himself. After being battered with injuries all over his body, the last straw that broke the Camel's back was to force him into a gutter and make him crawl from one end to the other.
“Despite subjecting him to that inhumane, dehumanizing and sordid condition, they threatened to shoot him if he did not keep on grovelling in the gutter. After crawling through the dirt in the gutter for long, having been exhausted, they ordered him to come out and unlock his phone which he quickly did without hesitation. They went through the phone but did not find any videos of them in it.
“This, ostensibly is sheer brutality at its despicable peak and a violation of the victim’s (Mr. Menegbo Gospel) fundamental rights, especially his right to Dignity of Human Persons as guaranteed under section 34 of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, 1999, as amended.
“It is in view of the foregoing that we condemn totally and outrightly this unwarranted brutality, victimisation and torture of our colleague. We, therefore, call on the Nigerian Police Force, as a matter of urgency, to fish out the perpetrators of this heinous act and let justice have its full course. In the event where nothing is done about this despicable act within fourteen days, we will be left with no other option than to adopt the next remedial line of action.”