Inside Nigeria Where A Laptop Means Internet Fraud & Where Tech Founders Are Now Fighting Police Brutality

Another day, another sad story of harassment and brutality unleashed on an innocent Nigerian youth by officers of the Special Anti-Robbery Squad (SARS) — a notorious arm of the Nigerian Police Force (NPF) that seems to be made up of the very criminals that they are supposed to be hunting.

This time, though, it may have been one assault too many as prominent Nigerian tech founders are now livid. 

I am beginning to realize the Nigerian Police Force has more criminals in it than the criminals outside it. That is why they now turn on innocent people. Criminals have to engage in criminal behavior. Problem is, who will arrest the criminals when the criminals are the police?

— Victor Asemota (@asemota) September 29, 2019

Tag all tech CEOs, young people, youth empowerment champions and reasonable adults on this. Both local and foreign – let us bind together to end this oppression. Drop everything and get behind this. ENOUGH! https://t.co/jaP5UtSz6j

— ‘Bosun Tijani (@bosuntijani) September 28, 2019

Bosun Tijani of CcHub, Jason Njoku of iROKO Tv, Seni Sulyman of Andela, Victor Asemota of Alta Global Ventures, Mark Essien of Hotels.ng and Iyinoluwa Aboyeji (formerly of Andela and Flutterwave) are just a few of the stalwarts of the Nigerian tech ecosystem who are now vehemently speaking against the SARS menace. 

10 possible steps:
1) A hashtag so that it’s easy to organize the conversation
2) List of key influencers who have been working on #EndSARS (like @segalink)
3) List of social media “amplifiers” who can make this loud
4) List of leaders in private & public sector who want to act https://t.co/NjfkPXWxBP

— Seni Sulyman (@senisulyman) September 29, 2019

Right. It’s time to #EndSARS Lets trend today. But a robust and concerted legal effort and also pouring whatever the amount of resources required to make them accountable. @bosuntijani We are ready.

— JasonNjoku (@JasonNjoku) September 29, 2019

Woke up to the heartbreaking story of yet another victim of #EndSARS. My biggest concern is that this will be another episode of people like me tweeting in anger then moving to a new topic in a few hours. Who has the track record and capacity to lead this movement? We’ll follow.

— Seni Sulyman (@senisulyman) September 29, 2019

Lawyers on my TL + @segalink, what are the realistic chances of an international multi billion dollar class action suit against the police+govt+Presidency on behalf of every software developer who has been harassed? I think that is where we are now.. #FreeSoworeNow

— E (@iaboyeji) September 29, 2019

What are the most common places in Lagos that SARS arrest people using laptops to extort them?

— Mark Essien (@markessien) September 29, 2019

Hon @akinalabi please move for motion to have voice signatures of ALL police operatives in Nigeria together with their details. There must also be GPS tracking devices on each policeman. The tech community has had enough. If this is not done lawfully, it will lead to mayhem.

— Victor Asemota (@asemota) September 29, 2019

Indeed, a crowdfunding campaign has been launched to sponsor the fight against the continued abuse of innocent Nigerians by corrupt police officers who have no business wearing the uniform or the badge. 

This is the link to contribute for #EndSARS https://t.co/fssjOtXEgL

— Victor Asemota (@asemota) September 29, 2019

As a matter of fact, the iROKO Tv boss has already donated NGN 10 Mn to the campaign as other donations are flying in. Also, the #EndSARS hashtag is currently trending on Twitter as many more disturbing accounts of SARS brutality and extortion continue to emerge.

We have been dealing with this for years now. A protocol was put in place that put a stop to this while we focused on the Police Reform Bill and the Police Trust Fund bill at the legislative but the new IGP thought otherwise and returned things to status quo. #EndImpunity https://t.co/uCsOrt9XMd

— SEGA L’éveilleur®? (@segalink) September 28, 2019

I’ll never forget the day Nigerian Police brought me down from GUO bus at Enugu bypass and put handcuffs on my hands for four hours until I agreed to withdraw 25K from the ATM to give them.

— ‘Dare St. Louis (@TheAkindare) September 29, 2019

Its not alot. But I just reached out to @bosuntijani and committed N10m for the defence of helpless people at the hands of those who are supposed to defend us. Please reach out directly to him commit your own o. Even if it is N10k that’s fine. Bias for action this time.

— JasonNjoku (@JasonNjoku) September 29, 2019

When you think about this SARS issue, no young person is immune to their harassment. They’ll drag you out of your car. They’ll make you begin to think like a criminal even though you have a legitimate job.
I’ve been harassed and extorted multiple times. We need to do something!!

— Usman Abiola (@Abiola_Usman) September 28, 2019

They are all calling for decisive action to be taken against corrupt Nigerian police officers whose stock in trade is to stop, harass, and extort young Nigerians who look like they clean up good, and most especially when they are carrying a backpack that has a laptop in it. 

In today’s Nigeria, when a SARS officer sees a laptop on a young Nigerian male who doesn’t look like he picks up scrap metal for a living, it’s basically the same as when the DEA finds 4 pounds of coke in someone’s bag during a drug bust.

To them, any young Nigerian who has a laptop and doesn’t look like a beggar is an internet fraudster who has millions of naira in their bank account — millions which they want a share of.

They pick up just about anyone. At one minute you are in a taxi headed somewhere, next thing you are in handcuffs being slapped around and threatened by SARS officers. After which the corrupt officers would ask for a huge sum of money before letting go of the victim.

There’s been so many such cases and lots of complaints from people who have suffered the harrowing ordeal. Both the Inspector General of Police and the government have been urged to act to end SARS or reform it, but neither institution seems to be concerned.

Nothing is being done as thousands of gainfully employed Nigerian youths continue to be assaulted and extorted by corrupt police officers who are preying upon a misguided idea of the average Nigerian youth as a dishonest person who is all up for cutting corners and ripping people off over the internet.

In the later hours of yesterday, Nigerian Tech Twitter was rocked by the narration of the harrowing experience of one Toni Astro; a software developer who was basically kidnapped by SARS officers, handcuffed, beaten senseless, locked up, accused of all sorts of far-fetched crimes, and extorted of his hard-earned money.

So yeah ?, SARZ messed up my Saturday and I get to be locked up because I’m a software developer.
A thread.

— Toni Astro (@toniastro_) September 28, 2019

The young man had just alighted after using a bike-hailing service to get to the Ketu area of Lagos when SARS officers approached him. They asked to see his phone before handcuffing him and forcing him to climb onto another bike by pointing a gun at him. To passersby, he looked like a criminal that had met his waterloo.

Toni Astro was then taken to the squalid bowels of a police station (Ogudu Area H command). He was cornered by a total of six officers, slapped and punched repeatedly, and accused of doing “Yahoo Yahoo” for a living. The police officers also demanded a million naira from him.

Even though he had an ID on him, they didn’t care. His emails and WhatsApp messages were checked and when they saw his account balance, they asked him to give them all the money in his account or be left to rot in jail. Then, at some point, they wanted half the money. 

Long story short, he had to go withdraw cash from an ATM to buy his freedom. They wouldn’t take bank transfers because they didn’t want to be traced. Toni Astro got home in one piece physically, but mentally he had been crushed to a thousand pieces.

It was his narration that triggered the latest outrage and spurred the current calls for decisive action at this point in time. If there’s any chance that the SARS issue will finally be addressed, it sure looks like now is the time.

I love that the tech community is getting behind the #EndSARS thing with @segalink Amazing to see. They’re putting their money in the fight too. Thank you @asemota @JasonNjoku and others. There is hope again.

— Dr. Tubolayefa (@DrTubo) September 29, 2019

And that’s because, at the moment, Nigeria’s tech ecosystem is not only voicing out against it but also uniting to fight it. At least, it’s the first time resources are actually being mobilized to combat the menace and it looks like SARS has finally pushed everyone to that “enough is enough” point.

Featured Image Courtesy: The Guardian Nigeria