Reactions have trailed the presidential order for an immediate overhaul of the Special Anti-Robbery Squad (SARS).
The Acting President, Yemi Osibanjo, on Tuesday, ordered the IG of police, Ibrahim Idris, to immediately overhaul the unit and prosecute allegations of human rights abuses levelled against some members of the unit.
Some residents who spoke to theportcitynews, commended the federal government for taking such an initiative, saying that it is a welcome development.
According to them, the restructuring of SARS will serve as a viable means to fish out the bad eggs amongst them.
They stressed that restructuring of SARS is a good thing and should have been done since so as to prevent several cases of human rights abuses recorded on their part.
They added that their dress pattern should also be changed because their appearance does not portray them as police officers.
On his part, Human right Activist, Higher King, told our correspondent, Tina Amanda, that restructuring of SARS should also include bringing to justice, the several SARS officers found to have committed crimes while serving the state, adding that such measures will bring to an end the torture, unlawful detention, extortion and other human rights violations perpetrated by SARS in the past.
According to him, SARS officers should be given proper orientation on their job specifications and should not be doing the services of the military, road safety, etc
“I think the orientation of SARS should be changed. They should restructure their mindset, they should be made to know that they can’t kill someone with impunity or do anything and get away with it. They are not at war. They should be restructured to concentrate on intelligence investigation, tracking, the arrest of criminals, that is why they are called special anti-robbery unit. They shouldn’t be a terror squad”
He opined that the wrong impression the public has towards SARS will change when the unit is constitutionally restructured.
“If they change, people’s mindset will also change towards them. People will begin to speak good of them, not a situation where they arrest people, lock them up and throw away the keys like Gestapo type, you don’t do that in a sane civil society. Definitely, the minds of Nigerians will change if they change too. It is a give and take thing”
Another resident told theportcitynews that if the proposed restructuring of SARS does not involve the prosecution of several human rights violations against innocent citizens by the men of the unit, then, the government is only playing to the gallery.
“I think the first thing is to prosecute the human right violations by the SARS operatives. It is a good start and then the unit can be overhauled for efficiency and productivity. Apart from that, the government is only playing to the gallery”
On his part, Ichenwo James said that the proposed overhaul is a political gimmick which won’t last as people will not buy into the good posture of the government. He wondered why just 6 months before the elections, the government suddenly wants to overhaul SARS.
“Why can’t they be scrapped totally?” he asked?
