SARS Lost Focus Of Reason For Its Establishment – Ex IGP, Okiro

Okiro Says SARS Truly Needs To Be Reformed

Mike Okiro, former Inspector General of Police, while reacting to the overhauling of the Special Anti-Robbery Squad, SARS, as directed by the Presidency said the move was timely because the police unit had shifted 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, stated that the SARS operatives deviated from its founding principle 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.

While speaking on the forth coming general election, Okiro advised aspirants to make the citizens know what they intend to do when they get to power and what they had achieved with their part positions.

“And I don’t know whatever calculations he might have had in his defence right or wrong of Buhari contrary to what he tells people in private; no matter how he goes about his defence of Buhari and people like Oshiomhole and others, I don’t think that will pay him off eventually in his own political ambition.“