End-SARS protesters barricade Ebonyi govt House, call for prosecution of crime guilty officers

By Ewa Nworie and Kelechi Nwoba

End-SARS protesters on Tuesday barricaded the Ebonyi State Government House, calling for the prosecution of SARS officers who have been founded guilty of any crime.

The protesters in their numbers were carrying placards, chatting songs while demanding for the reform of the Nigeria Police.

Some of their placards read: "We are citizens of Nigeria, we have our rights #End police brutality. #End SARS Now!! #End police brutality in Nigeria. #SARS must end, reform police, SARS must go now. We want peace, Police is a department not brutality” etc.

One of the protesters, Mr. Samuel Ekoh who spoke to newsmen on behalf of others said, they were fighting for their rights to stop in entirety the police brutality in the country.

 “We are fighting for our rights and our right is to end this police brutality because their brutality is affecting every youth in this state.

“Enough is enough, we want all those who have been found guilty of one crime or the other to be scrapped from the police force entirely. We want Ebonyi government to assure us, the police in the state must be one of the best in Nigeria.

“If you carry an iPhone they call you a criminal, if you wear jeans they tag you a criminal, you wear fine sneakers they tag you a criminal, we want to speak with the governor or the deputy governor we elected and they are the only two people we can listen to.

“No one can work freely in this state, if they catch you and search you and found nothing in you, I no follow N10,000.00, N50.000.00, and Neighborhood watch members now connive with the police to arrest us and tag us wonderers.

“Nobody can work in the night again not for the fear of arm robbers but the fear of the police, it is wrong. Our demand is that we want a better state and Nigeria. We want Justice for the victims that have been killed we don’t want their redeployment.

“It was a welcomed development that the IGP scrapped SARS on the instructions of the President.

“They were not sacked rather a name was cleaned up and then there is going to be a reform to clear complains from the masses against the police. I want us to know that society can not leave without security.

“We are talking about the areas they don’t do well because we know they are doing wonderfully well to give us protection, is only a few that are not doing well.

“The Neighborhood watch that I trained was to give security to the citizens of the state and not to brutalize them. I have never had a call that there is brutality from the aspect of neighbourhood watch and if there is such, we have a way to handle them through our disciplinary committee", he hinted.

Another protester, Saint Nnemeka who narrated his ugly experience in the hand of the police, when he was arrested for an alleged cult activities, because he had tattoo on his right alm, said, he was tortured and brutalized by Police on the offence he did not commit.