…as SARS suddenly turned cameramen
By Chioma Obinagwam
Reactions are rife on social media as popular investigative Journalist, Kemi Olunloyo, confronted the Police Special Anti-Robbery Squad (SARS) for demanding to search her bag.
Confiance News gathered from Twitter on Saturday.
According to Olunloyo, in her tweet, she stated that an argument ensued between her and some members of SARS who alleged that they needed to search her bag to be sure there were no drugs in it.
“#EndSars It all started as my artist told me at a certain junction in Badore, Ajah he is always profiled because of his nice car and outfits as a “Yahoo Boy”. He is not a criminal My artist @iamwealth9ja and my son @Richkjtmusic went to a studio this morning. #Kemitalkslaw”
“When we left the studio for a listening session we got in the car & boom at the junction SARS
@PoliceNG pulled @iamwealth9ja aside. They visibly caused fear for @Richkjtmusic my son who is American and almost dialed @USinNigeria for his protection. They ordered us out! #EndSARS”
“Officer Kelechi taping me was the leader of the team. His beef was that I harassed him and lied that police ever EXTORTED @iamwealth9ja. He also demanded to search my bag saying I was hiding DRUGS! I told him he needed a search warrant cos I know my CIVIL RIGHTS Angry faceFlag of NigeriaScales #EndSARS,” She tweeted.
Officer Kelechi taping me was the leader of the team. His beef was that I harassed him and lied that police ever EXTORTED @iamwealth9ja. He also demanded to search my bag saying I was hiding DRUGS! I told him he needed a search warrant cos I know my CIVIL RIGHTS 😠🇳🇬⚖️ #EndSARS pic.twitter.com/0ebDsIhp5R
— Dr. Kemi Olunloyo (Pharm.D) (@KemiOlunloyo) July 3, 2020
Reacting to the incident, some Nigerians took to Twitter to laud Olunloyo for her bravery while condemning SARS for their high-handedness and brutality.
Read also: ‘Nigeria Police is worst in the world,’ says report
A Twitter user known as Ayemojubar tweeted, “Aunty Kemi of life! Police met their Oga today.”
Another Twitter user, Rockefeller stated, ” Why did they all turn cameramen instead of the black Assassins they used to be? Kudos to #KemiOlunloyo, they met their match today,”
“Those sars and policemen has turned to kidnappers In my community, if you look good like this, they will force you into their car and demand for money on the way, they even leads guys to banks to cash out some money for them,” MasterMind Of EduStuff & Entstuff tweeted.
On her part, Larenzo said, “So we are not going to talk about that 360 spin that she did? At that point they were like “which kain wahala be this?”
However, Okereke Francis holds a different view on the issue which stirred even more reactions.
He said, ” Well done ma’am. But, who says the police needs a search warrant before they can search your bag???”
Reacting to Francis’ tweet, Kosiso stated, “They do. Know your civil right!.”
“Really. You got it wrong pls. The police only needs a search warrant for the purposes of searching premises, or other places like the inside of an Aircraft,” Francis tweeted, while defending his point.
Corroborating, Duke of Africa tweeted, “I am a Lawyer, and I’m here to educate you, yes a police officer doesn’t need a search warrant for stop & search, but this doesn’t include your phone, and a male police officer has no right to search a female citizen’s bag, only a female officer is allowed to do that. Vice-versa.”
Finally Olunloyo tweeted, “Pls Unroll your @threader_app as this is going to be a long one #ENDSARS @rrslagos767 @PoliceNG. This situation was diffused 95% with the leader of the SARS team apologizing profusely to me along with 4 cops EXCEPT one who was still abusing me. A mopol officer nearby ended it.”
Although Olunloyo stated that the situation was brought under control following apologies from the team lead of SARS, this incident brings to the fore the menace of human rights abuse by security operatives in the country, which is not unconnected with the recent weak rating by the World Internal Security and Police Index (WISPI) that ranked the Nigeria Police Force (NPF) 127th out of 127 countries.
