SARS deviated from founding principles – Ex-IGP, Okiro

Former Inspector General of Police, Mike Okiro has said the directive of the presidency for the overhauling of the Special Anti-Robbery Squad (SARS) was timely because the police unit had deviated from its founding principle.

 

Okiro, while receiving an award of ‘Peace-Loving Global Citizen’ on Tuesday from the Universal Peace Federation (Nigeria) and Nigerian Women of Integrity in Abuja, said SARS operatives deviated from the reasons the unit was founded to getting involved in mundane cases.

He said, “We formed the Special Anti-Robbery Squad (SARS) way back in 1991 when the notorious Shina Rambo was rampaging in Lagos and the whole of the South West snatching cars among others.

“So, we formed SARS to contain the effect of robbery and car snatching. Like I have said before, they deviated from the raison d’être by moving away from confronting armed robbery, car snatching and kidnapping and getting involved in mundane cases such as cases of bank cheques, land disputes and cases involving families.

“This is not what they were supposed to do. Rather, they were supposed to make a mark and go back to the office.

“What the presidency has done in this regard was in the right direction. They (SARS) should go back to the reasons why they were created. I advocated that they should not be scrapped. Government should not succumb to the ENDSARS protest because they have a role to play. As far as criminality is in the society, there should be an agency that should confront it.

“Let us go with what the presidency has done. They should review their activities,” he said.

On the 2019 general elections, Okiro advised prospective leaders to make the citizens know what they intend to do when they get to power as well as what they had done with past positions.