The Nigeria Police have posted officers of the new Special Weapons and Tactics Team to state commands after the conclusion of their training.

Minister of Police Affairs, Mohammad Dingyadi made the announcement on Friday, April 9th.

Speaking during an interview on Channels Television’s ‘Politics Today’ programme, Dingyadi noted that the officers were deployed to their initial police commands.

He said, “They (SWAT officers) have ended their training and they have been posted to the state police commands that brought them for training. They are there with them and they are performing the functions of the SWAT.”

Recall that the SWAT unit was created in October after the Federal Government announced the dissolution of the notorious Special Anti-Robbery Squad unit fondly called SARS.

WuzupNigeria reported that the dissolution of SARS was aided by the nationwide #EndSARS protests last October following accusations of extortion, oppression as well as human rights abuses and extrajudicial killings.

The hashtag #EndSARS spread like wildfire across Nigeria and globally, with demonstrations spreading to the UK and Canada.

Celebrities including Wizkid and Davido, as well as Star Wars actor John Boyega, have backed the protests on social media.

Burna Boy, Beyoncé, Trey Songs, Kanye West, Anthony Joshua and Odion Ighalo were amongst others who also pledged their support. Twitter’s chief executive Jack Dorsey, and German-Turkish Arsenal player Mesut Özil, were also among the long list of those who supported the agitations.

The immediate past Police Inspector General, Mohammed Adamu, sanctioned the dissolution of SARS, leading to the integration of about 1,850 SARS officers to SWAT.
The officers underwent training at the Police Mobile Force Training School, Ila Oragun, Osun State and the PMF Training School, Ende Hills, Nasarawa State.

Adamu announced the creation of a team of investigators – including civil society organisations and human rights bodies – to investigate alleged abuses by SARS.

“Your new responsibility as a replacement to SARS is to face the challenges of armed robbery and other crimes across the country,” Dingyadi said in November 2020 after paying a visit to the Police Mobile College in Eggon, Nasarawa State where some 400 SWAT officers akso received training.