SARS men

Okafor Ofiebor/Port Harcourt

There were two peaceful protests for and against Special Anti-Robbery Squad, SARS in Port Harcourt, and the Rivers State capital on Monday. The  rallies were led by members of the two major political parties in the state,  All Progressives Congress, APC and members of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP.

Hundreds of people,  mainly top brass of the All Progressives Congress,  APC, and some concerned members of the public staged peaceful protest asking the Inspector General of Police not to #EndSARS but to rather #SupportSARS to continue with their anti kidnapping and anti-beheading of Rivers people by cultists and armed robbers.

Prominent persons who were in the protest include: Dumo Lulu Briggs, Tonye Princewill, Governorship candidate for the Labour Party and Asita O.Asita, a former Governorship candidate of APC.

They   and others took their protest to the Police headquarters at Moscow road, Port Harcourt where they handed over a  letter to the state Police Commissioner, Zaki Ahmed.

Responding to the letter the CP Zaki Ahmed assured that the Police will not relent in chasing criminals to their hideouts and arresting them. He enjoined all well meaning Nigerians who to support the Police for which SARS is a unit.

He asked Nigerians to support the Police which he said is a professional body whose members must conduct themselves in uttermost best practices.

“SARS must stay, “Don’t kill SARS”, “Those asking for SARS to go have evil intentions”, “SARS must stay to stop armed robbers, kidnappers and Cultists,” were some of the inscriptions on placards carried by members of the group.

The contrary protest was led by Mr.Bright Ameahule, President-General Grassroots Development Initiative, GDI, a Pro-PDP group and one Samuel Nwanosike.

They took their protest to Government house saying that they don’t reformation of SARS but that it should be scrapped alleging that it is a tool for the rigging election of APC.

“SARS must be scrapped”, “We don’t want SARS”  , “Akin Fakorede Must Go,” they said in some of the placards they took along during the protest.

It will be recalled that over 100 people were killed in Rivers State in the build of the 2015 election and the Dec. 10, 2016 rerun elections while many others were kidnapped by armed political thugs and cultists , a situation which forced many families to relocate to other parts of the country.

But with the coming of the Federal Special Anti Robbery Squad, #FSARS, the state has been relatively peaceful with minimal reported cases of killings and kidnapping.

However, the Rivers state government and Governor Nyesom Wike has led the campaign for #EndSARS, alleging that the special police operatives are being primed to be used to rig election in the state during the next general elections.

Police have been circulating the hashtag #SupportSARS on social media and have called on media organizations to report on their rally in Abuja supporting the police.

The Nigeria Police Force’s Special Anti-Robbery Squad (SARS) has been in the media spotlight for the past week after Nigerians began condemning their human rights abuses and calling for the squad’s disbandment via the social media hashtag #EndSARS.

Social media users also shared pictures and videos of victims of SARS officers’ brutality and abuse of power.

The call for the immediate dissolution of SARS was also given a boost when former Vice President Atiku Abubakar threw his weight behind the campaign on his official Twitter handle.

The anti- and pro-SARS protests tomorrow will be a litmus test for the Nigeria Police Force, which was recently rated worst in the world.