The Presidential Investigative Panel on Special Anti-Robbery Squad (SARS) has recommended the dismissal of 35 of police personnel, who served in the now disbanded police unit for their involvement in various forms of misconduct.
The panel also recommended 33 for prosecution, 23 for reduction in ranks and two to be arrested and prosecuted.
Executive Secretary of the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) Tony Ojukwu, made these recommendation known on Monday when he led a team of officials of the agency to submit the panel’s report to the Attorney-General of the Federation (AGF) and Minister of Justice, Abubakar Malami.
The panel recommended 26 cases for further investigation by the police, 57 in which victims are to be compensated and two cases in which pending court orders are to be obeyed by the police. It recommended public apology over 32 cases, to be published in newspapers and other means.
Responding to the recommendations of the report, Malami said: “Our responsibility as a government is to establish and entrench a constitutional programme to take care of collective interest that will incorporate the interest of the victims of crime, the interest of the nation and the interest of the individual involved.
Malami further said the Federal Government approved investigations into infractions by the police in a bid to ensure necessary reforms in various police formations.
said the report which contained “critical appraisal” of some of the alleged infractions by SARS, was a testament that “the government is indeed conscious and ready to do the needful as far as ensuring that justice and fairness, within the context of the constitution, are brought to bear in the what we do as a government”.
The AGF added: “Again, when further unfortunate incidences were reported about conduct of SARS, I am very much aware that you are aware that the government acted with dispatch by setting up an independent investigative panel on human rights violations under the Chairmanship of Justice Suleiman Galadima, a retired Justice of the Supreme Court, with members from the NBA, Police Service Commission (PSC), NHRC, NPF, CSOs and others”.
