ENDSARS: A Reckoning

The #EndSARS movement is growing and expanding faster than anticipated by the government. Initially thought as one of those spur of the moment sort of agitation, this one is taking a life of its own as activists, entertainers, professionals and ordinary Nigerians all seem to have found a convergence in bringing to an end a police unit famed for brutality, extortion, harassment and extra-judicial murder.

It is difficult not to hazard a guess that there is no family in Nigeria that is yet to be impacted by the horrendous tactics of a unit established to tackle heinous crimes and criminalities.

To name those who have had their young lives cut short by operatives of the SARS is to present them as mere statistics rather than humans.

While the menace of SARS grew, the police authorities and the federal government feigned ignorance and turned a blind eye while many a family grieved over the loss of a young one or lived with the irreparable scar of the torture.

In a society that feels compelled that morality can be decreed, young Nigerians became easy preys and targets for the unconscionable operatives of the SARS.
All you needed to have to become a victim is to either possess a laptop, a funky hairstyle, an expensive phone, a saggy pant and or simply in a right place at the wrong time.

In what I have dubbed the #SARSCHRONICLES, Nigerians have continued to reel out their experiences, some that bear striking similarities to Nazi torture chambers. Owing to the indifference of government, it has become indispensable for the ascendancy of the youth as a radical social force for change. And the implications are predictable!

What is happening with the #ENDSARS protests across the country is an indication that there is always that moment in history when a people are fed up with a rotten and endemic system and say, ‘enough is enough!’

The protests are not just about SARS as a unit, rather against the long years of police hierarchy indolence and acquiescence to rogue tactics. It is a repudiation of all uniformed highhandedness.

Are we not witnesses to how FRSC, VIO, and the military have manhandled and dealt harshly with citizens for minor infractions and sometimes for none at all?
Despite all of these, some citizens can’t be excused for the monster SARS has become. Every little disagreement including sour romantic endeavours have ended with the offended calling SARS because of some ‘connections.’ House owners have been known to take their cases to SARS for speedy eviction or rent collection. One is guilty as all!

To have a new narrative, citizens ought to follow the normal policing route, however, slow. It is on this premise that I make the point that our society is too given to heinous crimes. To #ENDSARS is to leave majority of the populace at the mercy of armed robbers, bandits, terrorists AKA Boko Haram, ritualists and their likes.

We can demand a reform of SARS and strict enforcement of disciplinary measures. If #ENDSARS succeeds and a new tactical unit is named, what is the ultimate gain?

#REFORMSARS is my clarion call!

– Ogbeche is the Chairman, Nigeria Union of Journalists, FCT Council.

Disclaimer: This article is entirely the opinion of the writer and does not represent the views of The Whistler.