'Tosin Adeoti
2 min readOct 11, 2020

#EndSARS — What is the Government Afraid Of?

There is absolutely no big deal about Ending SARS for this government.

None whatsoever.

The people are not asking for free education or healthcare. They are not even asking that you reverse the terrible policy of closed borders which has increased hunger in the land.

They are saying, disband a rogue unit in a rogue institution.

You don't need a constitutional amendment. You don't even need to consult the legislature or the judiciary.

This rogue unit was probably concocted by an officer in the police force seeking to feel important.

What then is the big deal in disbanding the unit?

Many of us think #EndSARS will not outrightly solve the problem. Nigeria is too structurally misadjusted for that. The police institution is too fundamentally impaired for #EndSARS to turn every police officer into a respecter of human dignity.

BUT we are aware that symbolisms are powerful to people. This is not lost on everyone who reads history. Symbolic actions can cause massive ripple effects.

The simple act of disbanding shows that you care. It shows that you listen.

For a thinking government, this is the cheapest PR coup there is. Hands down!

Disband SARS. Many are happy. You ride on the ovation and score cheap points.

Instead what do we see? Further shooting of protesters across the country. Injuries. Deaths. We now have people contributing money to keep the protesters fed. We have Nigerians making contributions for the surgery of a lady shot in the mouth by a policeman.

Appaling!

How thoughtless do you have to be to request that the IGP look into the situation.

This is a situation you have asked them to look into every year since 2016.

What's ironic about this situation is that what they call the function of SARS is what an average police should be about.

What exactly is this hesitation about?

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'Tosin Adeoti
'Tosin Adeoti

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