SARS is no more, but Nigerians say police abuse still here

Months after official scrapping of notorious unit in wake of mass protests, allegations of police abuse persist.

Lagos, Nigeria – Ahmed* and three of his friends were returning from a colleague’s birthday celebration at midnight on February 5 when their car was stopped by four police officers at Ketu bus stop in Lagos. What initially seemed like a routine check quickly took a turn for the worse. “I parked the car and asked how we could be of help,” said Ahmed, a 31-year-old salesman for a consumer goods company. “They said that we flouted lockdown orders; we insisted there was no such thing. Then one of the [police officers] became furious that we were arguing with him.”