The Nigerian Police Chief known in the country as Inspector-General of Police, Mohammed Adamu, has announced the disbandment of the Special Anti-Robbery Squad of the Nigeria Police Force.
Adamu announced this in a live broadcast on Sunday as growing protest against the special force unit us heightened across the world.
The announcement came after days of online and offline protests against the brutality and extra-judicial killings by SARS operatives nationwide.
Platforms Africa gathered that Adamu who hitherto was reluctant to take a decisive action on the issue was on the tip of losing his job as the #ENDSARS protest spread all over the world. The protest also inflicted a deep cut on the fellowship of President Muhammadu Buhari on social media.
About 100,000 accounts have already unfollowed the Nigerian President on Twitter as the #EndSARS protest rocking the country takes a new turn.
The loss of 100,000 followers is a sign of protest of Buhari’s alleged mismanagement of the current policing crisis across the nation.
A new wave of protests to end the activities of the special anti-robbery squad of the Nigerian Police Force (SARS) has been sweeping across the globe in the last 96 hours, calling on the president to scrap that unit of the nation’s police.
Buhari did not respond to the protesters until Friday night when he tweeted a photo from a meeting with the inspector general of police (IGP) and Vice-President Yemi Osinbajo.
A Twitter user however called on Nigerians to unfollow the president on the micro-blogging platform.
According to him “unfollowing Buhari is also a form of protest?”
“We can help him shave off 1.5 million followers,” he added.
Less than 24 hours after the tweet was made, about 100,000 people have unfollowed the president, reducing his followership from 3.5 million to 3.4 million.
The actual numbers are unknown; Twitter uses an approximation method to determine what is shown on every individual profile.
According to a web archive accessed by TheCable, Buhari had 3.24 million followers in June 2015 shortly after he became president.
His followership grew to 3.46 million as of October 1, 2020, but crossed the 3.5 million mark about a week later — just before the protests began nationwide. But has now seen a drop in numbers.
The call to unfollow the president is growing on the platform — just as protests have continued nationwide.
The president said he has asked the IGP to address the issues and lead a police reform.
“The IG already has my firm instructions to conclusively address the concerns of Nigerians regarding these excesses, and ensure erring personnel are brought to justice,” Buhari tweeted.
“I appeal for patience and calm, even as Nigerians freely exercise their right to peacefully make their views known.”
Nigerians were, according to a report by News Direct, not impressed by Buhari’s response, and decided to continue the protests nationwide — gaining traction internationally as one of the top trends across the world.
