Over the past few weeks, protestors in Nigeria have taken to the streets calling for the disbandment of the Special Anti-Robbery Squad.
After the Squad was disbanded, protests did not cease as Nigerian youth demanded the prosecution of the top brass of SARS, who were accused of engaging in corruption, theft and extortion.
Nigerian Journalist who doubles as a Development Communication Expert, Mark Iyodo Muhammed has however indicated that regardless of the bad SARS has been accused of, the Squad has been effective in checking crime in the country.
Mark in an interview with Samuel Eshun, host of the Happy Morning Show on e.TV Ghana and Happy 98.9 FM said, “SARS was a crack team when constituted back then. There was nothing wrong with it as the squad cracked robbery cases and busted up deadly syndicates. That, we can’t take away from them”.
He noted that between 2012/13, the high rates of crime and highway robbery in Lagos led to the resurrection of SARS but on a regional basis, which started from the aforementioned city.
“Lagos needed the crack force to resolve crimes and from there, they started working and in other states. It was a federal formation and that was how it happened”.
The Nigerian Protest was further provoked after members of SARS were not prosecuted but rather dispatched to various police divisions with some making up a newly constituted Special Weapons and Tactics Unit (SWAT).
The head of the police, Mohammed Adamu announced that SWAT would carry out the duties which were done by the Special Anti-Robbery Squad (SARS)
The debate has now been that, if Nigeria has no special unit to replace SARS, then, there is the possibility for crime rates to increase in the country with others believing the country needs a complete overhaul in its governance structure for the country to become safe and inclusive.
By: Joel Sanco
