From: Judex Okoro, Calabar
A mild drama took place, in Calabar, on Wednesday, as two different groups protested for and against the activities of the Police Department of Special Anti-Robbery Squad (SARS).
While members of the Police Community Relations Committee (PCRC), in Cross River State, held a peaceful rally in support of the SARS, claiming that the squad had reduced cases of kidnapping and armed robbery, another group, the Protection of Citizens Rights and Justice for All (PCRJA), in a protest held, in Calabar South, said SARS has outlived its usefulness and should be re-organised.
Besides, while the pro-SARS protesters carried placards with inscription “We stand with SARS”, “Stop meddling into police affairs”, “Cross River stand with SARS”, and “Safety of life assured with SARS,” the anti- SARS Rights group’s placards read: “SARS has outlived its usefulness,” “It should be reformed to meet current security challenges,” and “SARS keep off politics.”
Addressing newsmen during the rally, Chairman of PCRC in the state, Mr. Michael Edem, said it was wrong for some group of organisations to clamour for the scrapping of SARS, describing the move as a ‘misplacement of priority on the side of the groups’.
Edem said the PCRC rally was held in support of the activities of SARS, adding SARS had contributed in reducing crime rate to the barest minimum nationwide, stressing that “what we are doing here today is to sensitise the public against the call to scrap SARS. SARS has always responded timely to emergency calls.
“We are appealing to the government not to scrap SARS because their role in curbing cases of kidnapping and armed robbery nationwide is commendable. No security agency in Nigeria today is 100 per cent perfect, and at such we must bear with them on their shortcomings’’, he said.
Decrying activities of SARS in recent times, the Coordinator of Protection of Citizens Rights and Justice for All (PCRJA), Comrade Emmanuel Edet Akpan, said the squad has become ‘so amorphous that it is high time to restructure it or disband it.’
Akpan said the current outcry against the squad is because it has gone beyond the control of even the police authorities.