BENIN CITY – A lot of people are lamenting on the streets and on social media that they are being oppressed and violated by SARS. This, as a result has brought the motto “ENDSARS” going around town, but first what is SARS? SARS is an acronym for Special Anti-robbery Squad. SARS is a branch of the Nigeria police under the criminal investigating department (CID). The CID is the highest investigating arm of the Nigeria police force. The following are what respondents in Benin City have to say on the issue “Should The Federal Government Scrap Or Reform SARS”:
David Inamorata: the main operation of SARS is for the betterment of the state, but individually they are now taking it to be a personal source of money, thereby extorting the people. I feel the government should not end SARS but they should be disciplined and checked. Checkmating this corrupt officers should start from the top, because these low ranked officers who are perpetrating these acts will eventually climb to the top and they will be the ones instigating young officers and expecting royalty at the end of each day.
Olamide Orolakin: I feel they are not fighting crime they are just a group of hooligans armed with gun because the rate at which they extort young people in the society is appalling. Corrupt officers in other arms of the police force has taken advantage of this, thereby, impersonating SARS and extorting the people. The government should scrap SARS, so this oppression of innocent citizens can end.
Henry John: SARS has actually reduced crime rate in the city because in the process of their random searching of people, they have caught a lot of bad individuals and groups. No, the government should not scrap SARS, they are doing perfectly fine.
Felix Doro: I am not yet a victim of SARS oppression, but I have witnessed a lot of it, courtesy, when I was travelling to Lagos they accosted my vehicle, brought out a young boy, searched him and found nothing yet they still beat him saying his hair style was not appropriate. It is not the job of SARS to go around searching for incriminating evidence in peoples phones without a warrant and their excesses are way too much, they accuse you of so many things. I stopped wearing black tops because they have accused me on several occasions that I am a cultist. They have not reduced crime rate at all, instead they have abandoned their primary objective to now focus on extorting youth, who to them are fraudstars. I won’t say they should scrap SARS but the corrupt officers should be flushed out of the system.
OS Doctor: their actions is not for the betterment of the city, I am saying this in respect of the harassment of the so-called “yahoo yahoo boys.” I have my own personal experience with them. Sometime ago I was attacked by a group of men along Sakponba road, I tried to fight back, but when I saw SARS passing by, in my mind I was happy that I will be rescued but behold it was a different ball game, they beat us all up saying we are constituting public nuisance, after which they arrested us and I was bailed with 30 thousand naira for no crime. Most of this SARS operatives are criminals in uniform, you will see them on dread locks and earrings. SARS should be scrapped for the betterment of the people.
Emperor Riches: SARS Operatives are using the uniform given to them to profit their own pockets by extorting youths. A young boy will be on his own, they will arrest him for no just cause so he can bail himself in the process they are making money. SARS should be scrapped in this country.
Obina Frank: they have not fought any rubbish crime instead they are extorting us young men. A few weeks ago, they stopped me along the road as I was walking, picked me up and searched me but they found nothing, then took me to Sapele road and dropped me off, if I was not having money on me imagine how stranded I would have been. SARS is of no use to us in the society. They should be scrapped SARS.
Kester MO: they are not for the betterment of the society, they are for the worse. When I think of their actions I shake my head. These are the people who are paid to protect us now we are begging the government to protect us from them. There are different arms in the police force, at least reducing it by one will not make it weaker, SARS should be scrapped.
Lucky Idiahi: these SARS operatives are not fighting crime, they are the criminals that need to be fought. They oppress people way too much. Our city is no longer safe for us not because of thieves but because of SARS. I plead with the government to scrap it.
Emoniti Edia: SARS are for the betterment of the society because youths today has really gone from bad to worse, so I would not blame them when they are harassing the youths but rather they should harass the right person, who are actually criminals. The government should not scrap SARS. While doing their duties I advice that they should be more polite with the citizens and stop brutallising people.
