Nigerian Musicians Who Have Been Harassed by SARS

Police brutality and SARS harassment cases are no longer shocking news anymore and is slowing becoming a norm in Nigeria.

One might think that amassing wealth or fame will save you from harassment from security personnel but that isn’t the case sometimes as we have seen Nigerian celebrities getting harassed by members of SARS (Special Anti-Robbery Squad) despite their fame and financial status.

Today we will be looking at Nigerian musicians who have been harassed by Sars in the past and how it all went down.

Falz

Despite being a famous singer/rapper, lawyer, and son of a Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN), He wasn’t spared and got to witness the rampant harassment by SARS. In December 2017, during an interview with entertainment correspondents in preparation for his first concert tagged ‘The Falz Experience’, Falz revealed how he and his manager were harassed by SARS and his manager who tried to have a decent conversation with them was slapped, so bad that he was close to tears. Falz also joined the trending hashtag at the time #endsars, a plea from the masses to the government to end the Special Anti-Robbery Squad (SARS) due to constant abuse of power.

Praiz

Another singer who has gotten a feel of the not so nice treatment in the hands of the men of the Special Anti Robbery Squad is Praiz.
The bearded singer who was in his car and had gold chains on at the time was labeled a ‘Yahoo Boy’ and his car was chased by SARS operatives. When they caught up with him, they pointed their guns at him and he resorted to recording them. The singer was later whisked to the station and when they got there, another senior police officer, Etim Godwin, who was very courteous to the singer and his manager acted professionally and released the singer later on. The officers who initially brought him to the station were visibly angry that he was set free as they wanted to teach him a lesson.

Jaywon

On the 6th of June 2018, Jaywon clocked 32 years and what suppose to be a day of celebration quickly turned a day of anger and frustration as members of SARS stormed the singer’s party in his residence in the highbrow area of Lekki in Lagos. Video from the scene immediately went viral online but the singer later came out to narrate what happened. According to him, they wanted to arrest a guest at his birthday party but he and his friends intervened as they were worried about what could happen if they leave with him.

Reekado Banks

The silver bullet for the singer – Reekado Banks was just that he was later recognized by the SARS operatives and was let go if not it might have been another story.

He took to Twitter to narrate the ugly experience of how they overtook him and pointed guns at him. He said

I don’t even know the difference btw SARZ and ARMED ROBBERS! The ones I met today overtook in a regular car, No uniforms, immediately pointed their guns and asked that we came down from the car, then calmed down when they noticed me. Biko what if I wasn’t me ???

Dr Sid

Mavin Records singer and songwriter, Dr Sid who recently changed his hairstyle at the time to dread witnessed what a lot of Nigerian youths face regularly at the hands of SARS due to their appearance.

The singer was driving along the popular Lekki-Epe expressway when he was pulled over by the overzealous policemen, who labeled him a ‘Yahoo Boy’.

His phone was seized immediately and was almost physically assaulted before his colleagues in the entertainment industry, Reekado Banks and Basketmouth came to his rescue.

Jhybo

Unlike in several other cases of celebrities being harassed on the road by SARS, the case of Nigerian artist Jhybo was very different as he was harassed because of a photo on his phone. The singer was waylaid along Oba Akran, Lagos and the men of SARS unlawfully gained access to his phone. While going through his pictures, they saw a photo of him dressed in camouflage and with a Rifle.

Even tho he insisted that the photo was from a video shoot scene, the officers were adamant and didn’t let him go.