Please Call Re- SARS To Order

A fortnight, a cousin cried home hours he left the house for a journey.

The bus he boarded was accosted by men of re-SARS. All the young men in the bus were asked to deposit their phones. The re-SARS were examining their phones for any internet-related mendacious activities.

My cousin said that many of the young men were beaten and cajoled by the men of re-SARS, accusing them of being fraudsters and what not. They took away N10,000 he was travelling with under the pretext that they would take him to their station except he bailed himself instantly. He said that his fate in the hands of these men was the fate of other young men in the bus.

It has become imperative that the men of re-SARS across the country did not learn from lessons leading to their ban in the recent past before their reemergence. Some weeks ago, another cousin was intimidated at a filling station at Kom-Kom in Oyigbo LGA of Rivers state, if not for the quick intervention of the mother who was around. They labelled the innocent boy who rode his rickety motorcycle to refill the tank, a kidnapper and other feint names. His mother vomited some thousands of money before he was left.

Weeks ago, a friend was at *Mini Okoro Police station*, PH. He was there to intervene for the arrested brothers who were driving along Tank, Rumukwurusi when they were accosted by men of re-SARS and were labelled kidnappers. Nothing incriminating was found in their choice car, yet they were thrown behind bars, just for the purpose to collect money from their relatives.

Across the country, the activities of men of re-SARS are becoming unwholesome. Nigerians witnessed the killing of a young man by re-SARS at a football watching centre in Lagos recently. These men have gone haywire against the instructions by their superior making Nigerians understand that it is criminal for any police official to inspect phone of any Nigerian. Here, with the recent occupation of men of re-SARS inspecting phones of unsuspecting members of the public, who is the true criminal?

Let these men of re-SARS be reminded that in the cause of their reemergence after they were disgracefully banned for some weeks, they were mandated to tackle kidnapping activities and not molest and extort money from innocent citizens in the streets. It therefore behoves the authorities to call the men of re-SARS to order and their areas of operation once again reread to them. Their immodest activities are getting out of hand in the streets and towns across the country.

*Odimegwu Onwumere*
May 25 2019.