The Special Anti-Robbery Squad (SARS) of the Nigerian Police Force (NPF) have been in the news for some time now for gross human rights abuse as many Nigerians now see them as a squad to be feared rather than one meant to protect. There have also been reports of gross extra- judicial killings, the recent being the shooting of Kolade Johnson , a father of one, by the squad.
Legit carried out polls on both facebook and twitter to weigh the reactions of Nigerians on the activities of SARS and the NPF generally, asking if the rate of police brutality will reduce with the scrapping of the squad or a total reform of the police force. On facebook, out of 2,000 respondents to the poll, 46% believed that SARS should be totally scrapped to deal with police brutality in the country once and for all.
On the other hand, 54% said reforming the police will put a definite end to the issue of human right abuse by the force. There was a greater number of respondents on twitter who believed a reform will do to fix the problem as 63% agreed to a total overhaul of the force.
