By Kelechi Esogwa-Amadi
As the EndSARS protests continue to rock Rivers just like other states in the country, some protesters in Port Harcourt are of the opinion that the E-Crack Squad of the Nigerian Police should be disbanded alongside the Special Anti-Robbery Squad (SARS).
The protesters, who spoke to TPCN yesterday in Port Harcourt, said although they are happy that the federal government has disbanded SARS in line with the demands of Nigerian youths, the government should also disband E-Crack with immediate effect, accusing the squad of also being guilty of police brutality like SARS.
Recalling the ugly incident of the torturing of five mechanics of the popular Ikoku motor spare parts market, Mile 2, Diobu, Port Harcourt, late last year by E-Crack, in which one of the mechanics, Chima Ikwunado, died on the process, the apparently angry protesters argued that both SARS and E-Crack deserve to be scrapped and their officers prosecuted because of the level of brutality they have inflicted on innocent Nigerian youths.
One of the protesters lamented: “I have expected the government to scrap E-Crack and other brutal teams of the police that have inflicted untold suffering and pain on Nigerians, especially the youths, the same day they scrapped SARS. What we’re protesting for is police brutality, not just SARS brutality alone even though that of SARS is more rampant than other units.
“But E-Crack is also as wicked as SARS. See this one in Mile 1 Police Station, how they just wasted the life of Chima for no reason at all. They just branded them cultists and thieves and tortured them like that. The other four boys that survived, go and look at them now: their lives are no longer the same. One of them, his right fingers are almost condemned. He still has injury. These are men who are old enough to marry. Even Chima was married and the wife just delivered but he is not alive to see his baby. Is there any wickedness that is more than that? And that is what E-Crack caused. Why shouldn’t government scrap them?”
Another protester, who said he will never stop until justice is done for Nigerian youths, especially those killed by the police, called on President Muhammadu Buhari to disband E-Crack and visit all the families of victims of police brutality, including the Ikwunado family.
“President Buhari should show us that he cares for the victims by visiting their families and compensating them but first he must scrap E-Crack immediately and other police units that are killing Nigerians on daily basis. If he can’t visit all the families personally, let him send people to visit them and tell them sorry for what his police have done and find a way to compensate them. This whole nonsense has to stop in this country. Police is supposed to be our friend, not our killer. Even if they like, let them put curfew every day and bring all the army and police in this world, I will not stop protesting until they listen to us,” he vowed.
Also expressing anger, another protester said despite the arraignment of the E-Crack officers that killed Chima Ikwunado and tortured the other four mechanics in Port Harcourt, the government should scrap the police unit before they kill more people.
He added: “Even now as I’m talking to you, we don’t know how many people they have killed. That of the Ikoku mechanics was the one we know because people started shouting. Who knows how many people they have killed before that time? If you see the way these people treat innocent people, you will know that they’re not different from terrorists. I think everybody heard how they treated those boys as if they were not human beings, to the extent that the woman officer was dragging Chima’s penis. I’m happy that the officers have been arraigned in court but that is not enough. They should be killed like Chima so that others will learn and then they should scrap E-Crack.”
TPCN gathered that the curfew declared by the Rivers State Governor, Nyesom Wike, on Wednesday evening, has helped to slow down the End SARS protests in the state, although most youths interviewed said they are not happy about it.
