Nigeria’s online social activist, Segun Awosanya says the position of the citizen advocate which he occupies is stronger than office of the president.
The activist who shot to limelight from highlighting alleged atrocities of the Nigerian police and particularly the Special Anti-Robbery Squad (SARS) and leading advocacy for reforms in the police, was a guest at the Social Media Week Lagos 2019.
Awosanya disclosed that despite his many attempts to be arrested by the Nigerian police or any security agency in Nigeria, he has never been arrested for criticizing the force.
“But if you are being arrested, they are arresting me,” he says. “I don’t have to be arrested to feel what it means to be arrested.”
Before the unit was disbanded in January 2019 by the new acting Inspector General of Police, Mohammed Adamu, the SARS unit was notorious for stories of human rights violations. The perceived inability of police leadership to sanction members of the unit and bring violators to justice forced many people to resort to social media to expose the activities the force. Over time, videos of victims tortured by SARS became a common sight. Hence, Segun Awosanya and a few others said they were forced to step up to the human right violations.
“When a policeman matches you to the ATM to rob you, do you go back crying to the police station to be re-robbed? No. That’s where we come in to speak for those who are helpless and those who can easily be ruined for a crime they didn’t commit,” says Awosanya.
Being a lawyer by training, Awosanya leverages his background to engage the police force. The first ever arrests of SARS members which he helped bring about was in 2016 when SARS officers allegedly robbed a young man supplying Awosanya’s equipment at the Computer Village. The SARS officers were arrested while attempting to rob another victim.
Nevertheless, he says there are honest police men still in the force.
“There are police officers who are patriots, who wear their badge with honour and who do not compromise on their duties. We must celebrate those few and also encourage more,” says Awosanya.
