A court in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada has denied a former Nigerian Police Special Anti Robbery Squad (SARS) officer asylum citing human rights abuses.
In his ruling, the judge said that former SARS officer Olusola Popoola “was found to be inadmissible to Canada because there is reasonable grounds to believe that he engaged in crimes against humanity while serving as a police officer in Nigeria.”
SARS was disbanded in October 2020 following a national outcry and protest about its decades of intimidation, extortion, robbery and the extrajudicial killing of over 100,000 citizens.
However, the abolishment of the notorious police unit was not convincing enough for Judge Sebastian Grammond to grant Popoola’s request for asylum.
Mr Grammond arrived t his decision on the 8th of April after Popoola requested for a judicial review of the decision of the Canadian immigration department which had initially found him inadmissible into the country on the grounds of his membership of the Nigerian Police Force and worse still, the SARS.
According to the judge, “I am dismissing his application because the decision-maker reasonably assessed the relevant factors fo deciding whether Mr Popoola made a knowing and significant contribution to the crimes committed by the Nigerian Police Force.”
The court heard that Popoola was in the police force between 2002 and 2015 when he ultimately left the force to travel to the United States.
From the US, he crossed into Canada where he has been seeking asylum with a view to settle permanently.
Olushola Popoola argued that he never engaged in brutal violence or any of the other criminalities that pervaded the SARS in the course of his service.
He added that he should be considered as a civil ex-officer going by his voluntary exit from the police service.
Justice Grammond insisted that Popoola was reasonably aware of the murderous and exploitative activities of SARS irrespective of the fact tat he did not personally participate.
According to him, “Since Mr Popoola knew that when he was a member of the SARS, the suspects he handed over to the criminal investigation department would be subject to human rights violations.
“The tribunal finds this to be a significant contribution to the purpose of the organisation since he had the knowledge of what would befall the individual subject to investigation.”
Reactions:
Malachy Odo II@MalachyOdo1· “#EndSARS protest didn’t achieve anything? Think again.”
Ayemojubar@ayemojubar·”Every SARS officer under Buhari administration should be denied visa to any country, not even asylum. #EndSARS“
Fisayo Soyombo@fisayosoyombo· “Olushola Popoola left Nigeria five years ago. But his years of service with SARS has denied him the opportunity to relocate to Canada. A victory for #EndSARS? Canada Denies Former SARS Officer Entry Due to His ‘Crimes Against Humanity’ “