Public opinion in a democratic setting cannot be trashed because democracy wields a good measure of civility as an important feature but any agenda that becomes infamous as a result of structural laxity should be weighed or reconsidered. This narrows down to proportional powers and functional pointers that heralded the formation of the Special Anti Robbery Squad (SARS) as an arm of the Nigeria Police.
Over the years, operatives of SARS have engaged themselves in a plethora of nefarious unprofessional misconduct paving way for incessantly modified clamor for the squad to be scrapped perhaps because it has caused more harm than good according to sectional ratings by citizens of Nigeria. However, in fairness to SARS personnel, two sides of the coin should be assessed in order to achieve sincerity of purpose by magnifying some importance of the arm preconceived before the birth.
Just like the name implies, the Special Anti Robbery Squad was introduced as an arm of the Nigeria Police to combat the growing spate of robbery, kidnappings and other form of criminality especially on Nigeria’s highways. It is however disheartening to note that in sharp contrast to its formative objectives, SARS has suffered numerous indictments notably allegations of robbery, extortion and an inglorious penchant for human rights abuses on a daily operational account.
The trendy agitations to end the activities of SARS in the country is not new but in as much as vox populi vox dei, due process must be adopted to ensure more contending issues are not created from the lingering problems. In the past few days, civil protests and hooliganism rented the air across the federation escalating to the death of some police personnel and destructions of properties belonging to the Nigeria police. With this ugly happenings, it is not an ignorant statement to buttress the fact that criminals have joined the protest to activate chaos. If the ‘mannerless’ composure of SARS officials is adduced as a reciprocal turn it is demeaning because two wrongdoing does not equalize rightful deeds.
Borrowing the same ineptitude of SARS personnel to propagate the lexicon of #EndSARS will gradually drift into a campaign of calumny if same disorderly motives is adopted in a democratic setting. However, peaceful protest can be utilized to achieve same results by tapping from modest behaviors in saner climes. Pushing for a better injunction and kicking against the excesses of any particular limitations are part of the civil responsibilities of illuminated citizens however by so doing, laws should not be taken into their hands to cause rancor.
Furthermore, scrapping SARS will birth another bandwagon of unidentified terrorists because these officials have received basic and in depth security trainings. They are not novice in terms of using a gun and they can espouse these knowledge to form immodest squad thereby instigating mischiefs maker to attack innocent citizens of the federation. The best option is to reform SARS by changing the structural defects or better still cancel the now unpopular nomenclature (SARS) and reabsorb the squad as conventional police operatives. One bad egg can affect others but a proper modus operandi should be enacted to gradually fadeout the old system of criminally minded gladiators further denting the dented name of the police.
Public image of the Nigeria police has been battered before now but the weak engagements of SARS operatives ignorantly ignited a wildfire that tampered with the collective responsibilities of Nigerians prompting these citizens to act in vexatious way and manner. Be that as it may, kicking against the activities of SARS does not entail being above the law. Any culprit guilty as charged should be arrested and prosecuted alongside indicted SARS officials as criminals causing chaos. If eventually, SARS is scrapped the nation should be on standby to ingest the sober repercussions of an ugly oversight.
To this end, SARS is not above Nigeria and Nigerians therefore reformation SARS is imminent. Citizens are advised to behave civil in their agitations even though the squad has done great injustice to humanity in the time past but all the eggs are not bad. Any attempt to kill or maim these officials is also a crime against the nation because innocent persons will fall as victims. Let there be reconsideration and reformation before it is too late.
– Ajogwu Jerry Ochada writes from Abuja.
