Recently in Nigeria, there have been calls to scrap the Special Anti-Robbery Unit of the Nigeria Police over allegations of massive corruption, abuse of power and human rights and in some cases extra-judicial killings. While some Nigerians are calling for its complete dissolution, others are still maintaning that the Special Anti-Robbery Squad of the Police has been the worst night mares for criminals and kidnappers in the Nigerian society. this post seeks to highlight and analyse the position of SARS, the Nigeria Police and what ought to be done about the whole issues and controversies.
Eversince the unit of SARS was established by the Inspector-General of the Nigeria Police, there is no doubt that there have been tremendious efforts made by this team to curb the menace of armed robbery, kidnapping and other related crimes in the Nigerian society. These efforts have also been yielding evident results with the prevention of planned criminal attacks, arrest of hoodlums and kidnappers and recovery of property of victims as well as saving of a good number of lives.
However, it is also evident that the SARS of the Nigeria Police may have become overzealous and may have been found wanting in the discharge of their set-up mandate as alleged by many Nigerians. A case where the SARS team were accused of arresting and shooting suspects without fair trials, being used by the rich and powerful to intimidate the poor in terms of settling personal disputes also abound. Although these are allegations, there is every need to conscienciously investigate these allegations because there can never be smoke without fire.
Now the question is - are you in support of the call to scrap off the SARS unit of the Police or do you wish it to be restructured? personally, I put it to the Nigeria Police that if SARS have failed, then the entire Police force have failed. Consequently, the Inspector-General and all the ranks that supervise the SARS Unit have also failed. Scrapping off the Police SARS without ending the massive impunity existing in the rank and file of the Police is like giving a cosmetic surgery to an underlying cancer.
If SARS is scrapped, the bad eggs would still remain in the system and their nefarious activities would still continue. Even before SARS came on board, there have been cases such as extra-judicious killings and other forms of human rights abuses. As far as the truth be told, the highest office in the Nigeria Police that is the Inspector-General, has nothing to celebrate as long as ill conducts of the low ranking officers and men in the smallest police formations and units remain uncked.
However as the case may be, it is neccessary to reform SARS as a credible crime-bursting elite unit of the Police but more importantly reform the individuals that make up the SARS and the entire Police institution. Only this can guarrantee a better security of lives and property for the Nigerian public.
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