Nigerian Singer and Songwriter, Joseph Akinwale Akinfenwa, popularly known as Joeboy, has disclosed that he received his fair share of Nigeria’s Special Anti-robbery Squad (SARS) attack on three or four occasions.
Speaking to YFM’s Rev. Erskine, the ‘Don’t Call Me Back’ hitmaker said, “I have been personally harassed by SARS about three to four times.
Just like armed robbers do, they pull you out and start checking your phone. Most of the time, I don’t argue with them though they have no right to check my phone. It’s just crazy. All my friends have been harassed”.
He expressed that SARS’s issue has become “really serious” as at least eight out of ten youths have been attacked by the group.
He notes that even as SARS has been dissolved, police brutality still exists in Nigeria. “Even the moment they said SARS has been dissolved they were still brutalizing and arresting people in Abuja. So we are still protesting in Abuja”, he added.
After weeks of Nigeria’s celebrities and activists protesting against police brutality and demanding for an end to SARS, the special Anti-robbery squad accused of harassment, unlawful arrests and extortion, authorities have announced a dissolution of the squad with the redeployment of officers to other police units.
By: Alberta Dorcas N D Armah