The Special Anti-Robbery Squad (SARS) was a Nigerian Police Force unit created in late 1992 to deal with crimes associated with robbery, motor vehicle theft, kidnapping, cattle rustling, and firearms.

It was part of the Force Criminal Investigation and Intelligence Department (FCIID), headed by the then Deputy Inspector General of Police Anthony Ogbizi.

[1] SARS was controversial for its links to extrajudicial killings, forced disappearances, extortion, torture, framing, blackmail, kidnapping, illegal organ trade, armed robbery, home invasions, rape of men and women, child arrests, the invasion of privacy, and polluting bodies of water with the illegal disposal of human remains.

Due to the increased presence of internet fraudsters and secret societies in Nigerian universities, SARS operatives infiltrated them and made several successful arrests, but in the process harassed innocent people.

What SARS became was a national scourge that witch-hunt machinery against Nigerian youth with dreadlocks, piercings, cars, expensive phones and risque means of expression.In May 2010, Amnesty International disclosed that it would be suing the Nigerian Police over human rights abuses, stating that SARS operatives in Borokiri, Port Harcourt, had arrested three bicyclists and detained them for over one week while they were "beaten every night with the butt of a gun and iron belt".

[22][23][24] On 21 August 2019, four SARS operatives were arrested and charged with murder after being caught on film manhandling and then shooting to death two suspected phone thieves in broad daylight.

[25] On 5 September 2019, operatives of the SARS in Lekki, Lagos, allegedly kidnapped, tortured, and robbed Nigerian rapper Ikechukwu Onunaku for no clear reason.

The campaign started on social media from the hashtag #EndSARS, created by Twitter user @Letter_to_jack in a post demanding that the federal government of Nigeria scrap and end the deployment of SARS.

[32] The Nigeria Police Force endured backlash over comments made by Public Relations Officer Jimoh Moshood, who accused the campaigners of being "criminals" and "robbers".

[34] On 14 August 2018, the Acting President of Nigeria Yemi Osinbajo ordered with immediate effect the "overhaul" of SARS following reports of human rights violation.

The acting president ordered the Inspector General of Police (IGP) Ibrahim Kpotun Idris to reform SARS and carry out an independent investigation after "persistent complaints and reports" concerning human rights violations.

Popular Nigerian Twitter influencers Rinnu, FK, Kelvin Odanz, Dr. Dipo Awojide, and several others quickly joined in raising awareness of the protests, which gave End SARS protestors added weight and support.

Several reports on international news outlets, including BBC Africa and Al-Jazeera, showed federal police tear-gassing protestors, shooting live ammunition, and using water cannons on them.

On 9 October in Ogbomosho in Oyo State, a protestor named Jimoh Isiaq was shot dead by police officers while participating in the #EndSARS protests.

On 10 October, a police station in Ijebu-Ode, South-Western Nigeria, was attacked by protestors angry over the death of Jimoh Isiaq and several others who had died at the hands of the Special Anti-Robbery Squad.

A motion was passed and agreed on by legislators who voted in favour of the protestors to end the rogue police unit SARS and sent the recommendations of the House to the Federal Government.

On 11 October, the Inspector-General of Police Mohammed Adamu announced the disbandment of SARS on live television and said a new tactical team would be unveiled shortly.

As the protests gained more momentum and exposure in Abuja, protestors returned in the thousands to the Police Headquarters and once again were shot at with water cannons and live ammunition.

Politicians and top government officials kept silent including presidential hopeful Bola Tinubu in Lagos, as police officers in Surulere shot and killed several protestors.

On the same day, after a week and a half of widespread national protests, Vice President Yemi Osinbajo in a series of Twitter posts told Nigerians he chaired a meeting of 36 state governors and the Minister of the FCT to set up judicial panels of inquiry, "so [they] can see justice served, and fast".

After the meeting, the NEC directed the governors and the Federal Capital Territory Abuja to set up "judicial panels of inquiry" to investigate the various allegations of human rights violations carried out by SARS operatives.