Assistant Inspector General of Police in charge of Zone 2, Olohundare Jimoh, has insisted that the disbanded Special Anti-Robbery Squad (SARS) has not been revived in any form, stressing that the controversial police unit no longer exists within the Nigeria Police Force.
Speaking on Channels Television’s Sunrise Daily on Friday, Jimoh dismissed widespread claims that former SARS personnel were secretly regrouped into new tactical squads, saying such allegations are false and misleading.
“The SARS has been disbanded, and there is no area where the old SARS were migrated into another squad or formation for them to do anything,” he said.
His comments come amid renewed public concern triggered by viral videos showing police officers in confrontations with civilians, especially after the recent shooting of 28-year-old Mene Ogidi in Effurun, Delta State.
Jimoh, however, stated that aside from the Delta incident, most of the videos currently circulating online are not recent, but old clips dating back five to six years that are being presented as fresh incidents.
“Eventually, all the videos that you are seeing online, outside the incident that happened in Delta, are extremely old videos, some of them dated to about five to six years ago, that people are now tagging as something that just happened,” he explained.
He clarified that former SARS officers were not dismissed after the unit was dissolved because they were regular police officers performing general duty assignments, but were instead reassigned to other departments of the force.
According to him, the police leadership introduced broad reforms and retraining programmes after the EndSARS protests to improve professionalism and ensure officers respect human rights and public dignity.
Jimoh said international organisations, including the International Committee of the Red Cross, were involved in the rehabilitation and reorientation of officers.
“A lot of internal human rights organisations, including the Red Cross International, participated in ensuring that we reshape the behaviour of all these personnel,” he said.
He added that while serving as Commissioner of Police in Lagos, the Red Cross worked closely with his office to ensure officers were retrained in line with international best practices.
The AIG also disclosed that the Inspector-General of Police has already constituted a high-level committee to examine all the viral videos and determine if any involve recent cases of abuse.
“If there is any recent case among them, those responsible will be identified and dealt with appropriately in line with the law,” he said.
Jimoh urged Nigerians to avoid spreading unverified information online, warning that false narratives could damage public confidence and national security.
“We want people to know that if you are helping the police force, then you are helping Nigeria. Whatever you put out should be based on facts,” he stated.
He maintained that the police are not trying to conceal genuine cases of misconduct and appealed to citizens to verify reports before sharing them.
About the Author
