#EndSARS: There's No Unit Created To Replace SARS Yet - Police Consultant

A security expert and consultant to the Nigeria Police, Tosan Eyiwunmi, said that there has been no creation of a unit  to replace SARS.

Speaking with Weekend Vanguard, Eyiwunmi clarified that, contrary to the news about the creation of a SWAT team, the Police Force is yet to create any replacement unit.

Nigerians, for days, have protested the disbandment of the now-defunct Special Anti-Robbery Squad (SARS), a protest that morphed into one against police brutality.

Despite the announcement by the Police Inspector-General, Mohammed Adamu, of the dissolution of the SARS unit, protests continued to rage, especially when the IGP remarked on the creation of the Special Weapons and Tactics (SWAT) unit as replacement.

Nigerians believe that the creation of the SWAT team, in such a short period, will see officers from the defunct SARS unit recruited, and the cycle of brutality would continue.

However, clarifying the statement of the IGP, Eyiwunmi said that there has been no creation of a SWAT team yet, nor has there been any establishment of a replacement team.

“SWAT which means Special Weapons and Tactics is a generic word in the security corridor across the world," Eyiwunmi said.

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"SWAT is used in America, it is used in Germany and even in Britain. It is not a word that is coined by the Nigeria Police or by the IG. And As it were, he has not constituted any body or unit. He was just explaining to members of the public that a unit like SWAT would come in place of the dissolved SARS. As we speak, there is no new unit like that as he wanted to reassure Nigerians that there won’t be any vacuum in the security network of the nation. He was assuring the people that the Nigeria Police Force would live up to its responsibility by constituting another body that would carry out the duties that would be in tandem with the functions of SWAT.

“SWAT is usually and generally a body that is expected to respond to violent crimes and they work with intelligence and technology, which is different from SARS. SWAT is not a body that you see everyday on the road. But because the public misunderstood him, that is why there has been this negative reaction.

“That is in the pipeline. He was only saying, that is what he intended to do. Before they put it together, those people would have to be specially trained because SWAT is a technical, tactical that would have to be trained by professionals. It is not a place you put in every Dick, Tom and Harry because it requires well trained personnel.

“Just like the FBI in America is not the regular policemen one finds everywhere, that is how SWAT operatives would function.

“The Mobile Police is created to quell riots but SWAT is meant to work on highly technical matters bothering on intelligence and mostly operate in plain clothes. For instance, in the case of kidnapping, you can’t wear police uniform to go and arrest kidnappers because you would have given yourself out already. Before they go, they would have done their investigation and worked on the intelligence gathered."