The #EndSARSNow campaign by the Nigerian citizens against the police aimed at stopping the incessant brutality, kidnappings and extra-judicial killings perpetrated by the operatives of the Special Anti-Robbery Squad (SARS) division of the Nigerian police, is a show of freedom and a picture garnered to show the desire of a people determined to be free from oppression. While majority see it as a victory, amongst members of the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB), it is seen as a total waste of resources and the effect of misplaced priorities. The sole problem is the State of Nigeria and her leadership that has consistently and in ravenous manner, eaten up her youths through terror, subjugation, penury, educational deficiency, moral decadence and anarchy. The will to fight for what is right must be anchored in total liberation from all oppression and terror especially on the part of free speech, freedom of association and expression. The head cannot be bad while the body is in good health. You cannot fight to End SARS from the Nigerian murderous police when we are not free from the oppression of political leadership that steals our collective wealth that is meant for human and infrastructural development.
In a bid to fraudulently tame the protests, the Inspector-General of Police, Mohammed Abubakar Adamu, issued a deceptive ban on the Nigerian terror police arm. According to the news emanating from the Nigerian media houses, there seems to be a sigh of relief from some quarters on the news which hypocritically says that the Special Anti-Robbery Squad (SARS), has been banned from the streets and the name removed from the police. But the truth still remains that in the past six years, the Special Anti-Robbery Squad has also been banned four times and yet, it still operated with full impunity and the backing of the same government that previously banned it. Will the mere speech from the IGP of the Nigerian Police be enough to actually stop this legally marauding terrorists in the Nigerian police? Will the President of the contraption called Nigeria address the citizens in assurance of hope and safety with regards to their lives and properties?
The IGP of the Nigerian police stated that the SARS unit will be banned and then a new name will be given to another group to function within the same rule and regulations that Nigerians just kicked against. To the people, SARS has been banned but actually did the government ban SARS? They have vehemently decided to change just their name from SARS to another, same way they changed it from SARS to F-SARS; still the same people with the same mentality and attitude.
Those who lost their lives in the quest to obliterate the Nigerian Police brutality, paid the ultimate price for freedom with their blood and yet freedom is not achieved. Nigeria in it's present time is operating a feudal system.
It is important to note that the Nigerian police brutality will not stop just because citizens had a protest to that effect. For a long time the Nigerian system has shown that there is no right for her citizens. The Nigerian police brutality and kidnapping will not end because of mere protests as the Nigerian system in which it operates, is the watery ground that gives it life.
One thing must be understood; we cannot continue to toe the same path of mediocrity over and over. If things must work, then we must change the status quo. Nigeria is the problem and the moment we collectively demand an end to this cocoon of terror called Nigeria, the hope for better life that is free from suppression and penury will really dawn.
Written by Anioke Chukwunonso
Edited by Elemeghideonye Nnamdi Stephen
For Family Writers Press International
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