Please let’s be guided on the type of hashtag we use in our protest. We should think of the repercussions of our decisions before making them. We have been battling with numerous issues in the country and we should not add more to it.
There is a difference between ending SARS and ending SARS brutality. Ending SARS will create unemployment for them which will push some of them to armed robbery thus, escalating social ills in the society which we are trying to fight.
We know the activities of SARS has created so much pains and melancholy to homes and families. Every citizen of this country has a right. It is not the function of SARS to check people’s phones and correct dressing. Everyone has the right to dress the way they like, keep the hairstyle they want and use the phone they want. Harassing innocent citizens due to indecent dressing or style of hair is against the freedom of citizens. SARS should not be concerned with the kind of phones citizens are using just because they suspect such citizen.
If cyber crime is the issue then we have the Economic and Financial Crime Commission (EFCC) that is charged with the onus or responsibility of tackling financial matters, cyber criminality and financial fraudulence. Killing our youths because they refuse to give you money is evil. Wrongful arresting our youths and accusing them of crimes they never commit because you want to extort money from them is evil. The actions of SARS has been so alarming. Sometimes they walk around with P.O.S machine where they force their victims to use their card and transfer money into their account.
Sometimes, they publicly brutalize Nigerian citizens who refuse to do as they say. No SARS official has the constitutional power to beat or hit a citizen. It’s against the rule of law and the ethics of democracy. It is not the function of SARS officials to involve in private matters of citizens. Just because a boy dress ruggedly doesn’t mean such boy is a cultist or criminal. We have decent criminals and cultists too. There are criminals who dress decently but use their pen to steal our national money.
On this note, we should be advocating for the Reformation of SARS and putting such policy of Reformation into practice. Not where you tell Nigerians you have stopped SARS from certain functions but later, they still carry out their previous functions of brutality. If SARS is properly Reformed, they should keep to the act that brought into existence their Reformation.
If SARS is deleted from this country, it will not still stop the draconian actions of other security operatives. Rather, reform them and outline the exact functions they should execute. And if any SARS goes against any of it’s function or involve in other activities that is not their function, then they should be disciplined accordingly without compromise.
An independent commission or body should be set up to monitor the activities of SARS authorities for the purpose of making sure they don’t deviate from the Reformed policy that brought them into existence. Such commission should be bestowed with the power of monitoring, disciplining, promoting, financing, retiring and orienting SARS officials for the purpose of keeping the institution in order and preventing the ills we face today.
I repeat, we shouldn’t end SARS. We should end SARS brutality and deplorable treatment on innocent citizens of Nigeria.
