SARS 4.0?
The IGP announced that a new unit to replace the "disbanded" Special Anti-Robbery Squad would begin training next week. What does this mean?
Barely two hours back, the Inspector General of the Nigerian Police, Mohammed Adamu, reiterated something he had mentioned in his previous broadcast which had raised concerns amongst Nigerians. He had announced that after the rogue outfits SARS had been disbanded, a new outfit would be created to handle the responsibilities the disbanded unit were meant to have been handling. Today, he said that unit would begin training next week.
Next week.
This raises all kinds of questions. Questions that only the intentionally obtuse would not ask. Why so soon? Shouldn’t something as sensitive as creating a new unit to replace a previous unit that had gone rogue take a bit more planning and preparation? What procedures have they laid out to make sure that the new unit does not head in the same direction as the previous one? What are the criteria for the personnel that would man this new unit.
Most importantly, who are the officers that would be assigned to this new squad?
It is interesting to note that the IGP had said, in his previous broadcast, that the men of the Special Anti-Robbery Squad that was being disbanded would be redeployed. That is already problematic but let’s stay with our line of thought. This is a new squad that’s being set up. A squad that’s ostensibly different from the disbanded squad.
A squad you can redeploy the men of SARS to.
I’m not trying to throw up conspiracy theories here but anyone with a cursory understanding of the workings of the Nigerian system can clearly see how this can be used to reboot what the government claimed it has killed. The IGP has only announced that the new squad would begin training next week but the procedure for the recruitment, training and deployment of this new squad is shrouded in mystery. One would think that after having dealt with the protests these past few days, the government would at least commit itself to a bit more transparency with the police and its relations with citizens but I guess that’s a really big ask.
There have been “concerns” from the anti-end-sars corner that if SARS is disbanded, violent crime would skyrocket and that it’s imperative that a new squad is created quickly to forestall that. To that I make the following submissions:
1) Nigerians have been dealing with violent crimes, even with the existence of SARS. Bandits and herdsmen have been running wild in the North, killing, raping, kidnapping and displacing people in their hundreds and thousands. Over the course of the lockdown, criminal gangs went on the rampage and citizens had to form vigilante groups to secure themselves. What was and has been SARS’ role in stemming these robberies and violent crimes. If they could do nothing about these, what is the point of having them around?
2) SARS were more interested in extorting and harassing young people under the guise of going after internet fraudsters known as “Yahoo Boys”, a responsibility that should be the exclusive preserve of the EFCC. Except harassment, extortion and killing are legal responsibilities of the police, I don’t think we need any unit doing these running around
3) Most importantly, if the regular, everyday police did their jobs, there would be little need to have SARS around. The police is poorly trained and extremely unprofessional in it’s response and relationship with citizens. Why should we keep creating special units while the core police is rotten and comatose?
We need to reform the police. We don’t need any new units. We’ve seen how virtually every unit of law enforcement in this country eventually finds it’s way to corruption and high-handedness. The Police. The FRSC. The VIO. LASTMA. Customs and Immigration. The list is endless. Adding a new one does not clear any of the rot. We need to reform those that exist and dissolve those that are irredeemable.
Like SARS.