Noah Ebije, Kaduna
The immediate past Secretary General of Arewa Consultative Forum (ACF), Mr. Anthony Sani has said that instead of banning SARS, the entire police force should be reformed to weed the entire force of bad eggs.
Reacting to the ban of SARS by the federal government, Sani told our Correspondent that without replacing the special security squad with another one, armed robbers and other criminals will completely take over the nation’s highways.
“While I empathize with the protesters who have on the streets to protest against brutality by the SARS and the need to rein in the SARS;and with the government’s actions in pandering to the protesters as mark of sensitivity to public outcry,I pray the government would put in place alternative to SARS, considering Nigeria is proned to insecurity across the nation.
“Left to me,instead of banning SARS,the whole of the Nigerian Police should be reformed by way of having enough number of adequately trained and properly equipped police personnel to enable them live up their mandate.
“Please consider the protests against police brutality and the calls for defunding of the police in America by the protesters.But the authority have not pandered to such demands on the grounds that defunding the local police would amount to throwing the baby away with the bath water.And so instead of defunding,the authorities in America have opted for reforms of the police.
“So,since all occupations have their share of bad eggs,I had preferred the authority to fish out perpetrators of the brutality by SARS and bring them to book as deterrent instead of out right banning of the SARS for the sins of few officers in the outfit.
“But as I have said,I hope the government has an alternative arrangement that can help secure the roads lest the ban let lose kidnappers,banditry and armed robbers on our roads”. Sani stated.