National Publicity Secretary of Middle Belt Forum, Dr. Dogo Isuwa, has berated Northern Governors for rejecting the disbandment of SARS by the Buhari administration following widespread protest demanding an end to police brutality in the country.
The Northern governors had voiced their opposition to the move saying that instead of disbanding the branch of the police force, they should have been move to the North instead, to help fight insecurity in the region.
However, Dogo in an Interview with Daily Sun, said the Northern governors are playing with fire, for playing stupidity and political insanity. He said there has been enough security presence in the North for many years, in addition to funding given to state governors to tackle insecurity in the region, yet insecurity in the North only seem to be getting worse.
So he wondered what use transferring SARS to the North would be, unless the governors are suggesting that SARS is better than the Nigerian Army.
He said, "With respect to the Northern governors, I find it amusing that they are saying that they do not want the Special Anti-Robbery Squad (SARS) disbanded, that they should be reformed or they should be sent to the North because they have helped. I wonder in what way they have helped?
"Or are they saying that the SARS are better than the army, and that the army has not been able to fight the insurgency in the North, therefore the SARS should replace the army? Is it not the army and the Air Force fighting Boko Haram?
"So, how is it that the SARS has not been able to contain the killings and kidnappings in the North particularly on the Kaduna – Abuja where you have kidnappings almost on a regular basis? Is it now that the youths are protesting that the Northern Governors Forum suddenly woke up from their deep slumber and realised that SARS has stopped banditry in the North? I am just asking questions because I don’t understand it.
"For years now, the Middle Belt has been suffering these banditry, killings and kidnappings, then suddenly they are saying the SARS should not be disbanded because they are helping, how much did they help that they have not stopped the banditry, killings and kidnappings? If you have army battalions across the length and breadth of the North and they have not stopped it, is it now they will stop it? It just makes nonsense of their way of reasoning and approach to issues. It shows that they are far from the truth."
On whether the governors' position is a reflection of the general views of the majority in the North, he replied, "They are not. In fact, they appear to be state agents because anybody who is sincere, I repeat anybody who is sincere in the North will know that there is no part of the North that can boast of peace now, and these same people have been there since time immemorial and they did not bring the peace, they did not stop the banditry, they did not stop the killings, they did not stop the kidnappings and they did not stop any of the calamities that have been going on there and now that the youths are saying ＃EndSARS, they come up to say that they have met with President Muhammadu Buhari that the SARS should not be disbanded.
"Has SARS not been there for ages? SARS was established in the 1990s and it has not stopped the problems, but rather the problem has multiplied over and over and somebody in his right mind wakes up now to say they should not be disbanded because they are more useful, are they saying that if you take the SARS in the South and move them to the North, the insecurity will stop? Was there any time they stopped the government from increasing the number of SARS in the North, until now?"
Asked whether he thinks the governors are simply playing politics with what is happening in the country, he said, "I don’t want to say politics. They are playing stupidity, they are playing political insanity, that is my view because no right-thinking person will after all this time come out now to say that if they leave SARS, that SARS will solve the criminality that has bedevilled the North.
"Are they also saying that SARS is better than the Nigerian armed forces put together? The army and the air force in particular have been fighting, I am not very sure of the role of the Navy, but if the army and the air force and the other arms of the police are there and they are saying that the SARS is better than all the arms of the armed forces put together, can that be logical, does that make sense?
"Can you say that anybody saying that is reasonable? What has been happening makes it look ridiculous, whether you have Northern governors or parents or some youths you can hire and pay as political thugs and use to disrupt legitimate cries for what Nigerian youths want.
"You will know that something is wrong with the brains of the so-called Northern governors. Something is wrong with the brains of the so-called fathers that are saying they shouldn’t disband SARS; something is wrong with the brains of those youths, in fact those youths you see opposing the scrapping of SARS, do they look like people that have ever been inside a classroom?
"Those are almajarai that were hired to come and disrupt what is even in their own interest. Believe me, what the youths are doing is actually in the interest of the police and armed forces than in the interest of the youths themselves because if the government does what is right, the police will have less problems in their hands; that is the truth.
"If the government does what is right, the police will have less problems, there may even be no need for some of these criminality taking place. But because the government is not doing what is correct, the police cannot even stand.
"These youths shouting ＃EndSARS are fighting for improved remuneration of the police; it is one of their demands and somebody in the North is saying they should leave SARS. So, let them take SARS to the North and when they improve the remuneration of the police, they should leave out those ones?
"Let me ask an important question, every state governor gets millions of Naira, if not billions every year for security; what security did they provide, what did they spend the money on? Should that be budgeted for in any state when the governors do nothing than to increase the level of poverty and armed banditry in their states and everywhere and they are getting security votes?"