According to a statement by police spokesman, CP Frank Mba, the IGP assured Nigerians that reports suggesting that SARS is to be restored should be treated as false news.

IGP Alkali Baba further emphasized that SARS is gone for good and will not resurrect under any guise whatsoever.

He noted that the Force has since reorganized its operational structure to fill the vacuum created by the disbandment of SARS.

“Currently, the leadership of the Force is focused on efforts at deepening reforms within the Police, as one that will be more effective, efficient, technology-driven, humane, and Rule of Law-compliant,” the statement partly read.

The police boss called on members of the public to disregard the said report, stressing that it is absolutely false and deliberately intended to misinform members of the public.

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Chairman of the panel, Justice Doris Okuwobi, announced this at the resumed sitting of the panel.

“There are two reports that we are expected to work on; we are not close enough to any of them,” she said. “We cannot continue with the sitting and end the assignment without concluding. So, we will not be sitting from today.

“We have to collate and evaluate petitions already heard so as to make findings and recommendations, even on the Lekki shooting. But as soon as we find ourselves in a comfortable situation, we will send hearing notices for cases that have been listed.

“Please bear with us, we cannot speculate on any further extension. We have to work towards completing the assignment as early as we can.”

“This is without any prejudice to us coming back to conclude on part-heard cases. Dates will be communicated to petitioners who have petitions pending,” Okuwobi added.

Following the announcement, the panel went on to hear and conclude the cross-examination of a pathologist, Professor John Obafunwa, and one of the EndSARS coordinators, Serah Ibrahim.

Both witnesses were discharged after they concluded their testimonies.

Following the extension of its tenure by another three months, the panel is expected to conclude its sitting by October 19.

Meanwhile, lead counsel to the Lagos State government, Abiodun Owonikoko, however, told the panel that with regards to the Lekki shooting, the state intended to call two expert witnesses – a ballistician and a security expert.

“One of the experts was commissioned from the UK and the other is a highly placed security expert,” he said.

“We want an indication on when the panel will reconvene so that we can guide them on when specifically they will appear,” he said.

After this submission, the panel rose to confer and make a decision on how to proceed.

When the panel returned, Justice Okuwobi regretted that the panel would not be able to take the witnesses before taking its break.

“On the application, the quality of the witnesses we envisage will slow the panel down… we only have 27 working days to the end of this assignment,” she said. “We are of the firm view that we cannot accommodate such evidence at this time.

“It will be highly impossible and impracticable to take the two witnesses and it is the panel’s greatest concern that we get our report ready for the terminal date of this assignment.”

As of the time of this report, different lawyers are still making their submissions, agreeing or disagreeing with this latest move by the panel.

Source: ChannelsTV

He said this at the presidential briefing organised by the Presidential Communications Team at the Presidential Villa, Abuja on Thursday, he also said that the aftermath of the #EndSARS protest dampened the morale of the personnel of the force.

The IGP said the regular policemen and women have not been able to immediately slot into the vacuum created by the SARS disbandment even though efforts are ongoing to train them for the new role.

He affirmed that the security situation stabilizes most times but with pockets of problems arise around the country.

Usman said that the police have recorded successes against secessionists and criminals in the South-East but they can not be prosecuted and brought to justice because of the ongoing strike by judiciary workers.

On the plan to recruit 10,000 new police personnel, he revealed that the process has reached 70 percent, assuring that the exercise would stick to the Federal Character principle.

Speaking on the effort to check insecurity in zones, he said: “The security situation of the country has been significantly stabilized from time to time. But you see, if it is stabilised for a week, then there are isolated disturbances coming from this zone in terms of either attack on police facilities or police personnel or even all law enforcement agencies including the military.

0“And therefore, we decided to one, rejig the morale of our personnel, which has been a little bit dampen since the #EndSARS came and went away.

“With the proscription of SARS and the establishment of SWAT which has not been able to take off fully, we had a vacuum in tackling most of the violent crimes from a position of strength in terms of having a strike force that is dedicated for that, rather than having our conventional police doing the policing in a conventional way.

“So, therefore, we try to marshal back this courage of our personnel who have been involved in violent crimes and they lecture them and posted them to the anti-robbery sections, for anti-robbery patrols and the investigation of violent related crimes which involved of course robbery, kidnapping, banditry, cultism and so forth.

“Secondly, we decided to launch an operation which is tagged Operation Restore Peace and we targeted the South-East and South-South for the first phase of our operation.”

1,166 high profile criminals arrested since April 7. The acting IGP disclosed that the South-East and South-South zones have been reinforced with about 3,700 police personnel to tackle insecurity in the region, which led to the recent launch of Operation Restore Peace.

According to the IGP: “We involved reinforcing these two zones with a total number of about 3,700 policemen drawn from our various units which include, police mobile force, the strike force, counterterrorism, the STS, IRT and these commands were imposed with this personnel with specific instructions, with an operation order that is targeted at stabilising the incessant attacks on police facilities, personnel, military and other violent crimes.

“The first operation in the South-East was done on the 18th of this month (May) in Enugu and we clearly stated our mission. We clearly stated our vision. And the six states in the South-East geopolitical zone came to Enugu.

“All the governors were represented by the deputy governors except one of Enugu, who personally participated. And we launched the operation.”

Usman revealed that a total of 1176 high profile criminals were arrested by the police from April 7, 2021, to date with a number of arms and ammunition also recovered.

He said: “For record purpose, I can briefly mention our recoveries and the successes. They go as follows: in terms of recovery after the launching of this operation, we’ve been able to recover the following weapons and arms from secessionist and the armed insurgents.

“One general-purpose machine gun, 10 AK-47 rifles, nine locally-made fabricated rifles, four locally-fabricated pistols in 19 AK-47 magazines.

“We have recovered over 5,419 live ammunition with 10 improvised explosive devices.

“In terms of arrest, we have 398 armed robbery suspects in our custody, 258 cult-related offenders, 222 murder suspects, 202 bandits related matters and the 86 suspects involved in case of kidnapping.

“This statistic I am giving you is from 7th of April to date. 434 firearms of various descriptions were also recovered. So, these are some of the things we are doing.”

Answering a question on the recent attack on Governor Samuel Ortom of Benue State, Usman said those involved have been arrested and their origins determined to be different from what the governor claimed.

He explained: “We’ve been able to uncover the assailants and we’ve been able to establish what actually happened contrary to what he said, and we’ve been able to get these people and know where they came from, how they came but the case is still under investigation and that is why there are some vital things that we have not been able to complete.

“But as for those who would pull the trigger and those who organise the crime, they are with us, they’ve been arrested.”