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#EndSARS: How Army, Police settles score with new formation
The EndSARS movement became a global engagement and escalated in October 2020, when Nigerian youths protested the unprofessional conduct of some men of the Special Anti-Robbery Squad (SARS), which led to the call for EndSARS. Now it has become a subconscious awareness-raiser whenever internet users see it trending.
Besides the youths request for EndSARS, there was an incident that took place between the officers of the Nigerian Army and the Nigeria Police.
“The inciting events that spurred SARS formation were the killing of Colonel Ezra Dindam Rimdan (Nigerian Army) by police officers at a checkpoint in Lagos on September 22, 1992, their arrest, a strike by police officers in response, and a subsequent crime wave”, according to sources, Chronicle NG reports.
“When the information about Rimdan’s death and the police’s complicity reached the army, soldiers were dispatched into the streets of Lagos in search of any and all police officers. The Nigerian police withdrew from checkpoints, security areas, and other points of interest for criminals; some police officers allegedly resigned while others fled for their lives.”
“Due to the absence of police for two weeks, the crime rate increased. In response, SARS was formed with an initial force of fifteen men and two Peugeot station wagons.”
“It was founded by former police commissioner Simeon Danladi Midenda and is part of the Force Criminal Investigation and Intelligence Department (FCIID), headed by the then Deputy Inspector General of Police Anthony Ogbizi”.
“Three police anti-robbery squads (the first of which was established in 1984) were already operating at that time, so Midenda needed to distinguish his squad from the existing teams. Midenda named his team the Special Anti-Robbery Squad”.
“After two weeks of dialogue, the Nigerian Army and the Nigeria Police Force came to an understanding, and official police duties resumed in Lagos”.
“In November 1992, the SARS unit was officially commissioned in Lagos”.
“The Special Anti-Robbery Squad (SARS) was a Nigerian Police Force unit created in late 1992 to deal with crimes associated with robbery, motor vehicle theft, kidnapping, cattle rustling, and firearms“.
