Nigeria’s Senate President, Ahmad Lawan, has opposed the calls to scrap the Special Anti-Robbery Squad (SARS).
This, he said, was because there are good personnel in the police unit who could be denied the chance of performing better should the unit be scrapped.
He made this comment during plenary on Wednesday as lawmakers deliberated a motion on the recent extrajudicial killings carried out by the security personnel.
“I think that this is the situation that should be properly investigated. Those in involved in recent incident should be arrested and prosecuted. The law should take its due course. This is not acceptable. Nigerians need to know what happened by those who have killed Nigerians.
“There are good people and bad people in SARS. Scrapping of agencies when you have mistakes may not be the best position. Rule of law should be put in place.
“If you scrap SARS, you lose the chance of getting those doing well to continue to do well,” he said.
His statement comes amidst calls for the scrapping of the police unit. It also comes three days after the Inspector General of Police, Mohammed Adamu, banned personnel of the squad and other tactical units from operating on Nigerian roads, in response to calls for the scrapping.
Earlier, Oluremi Tinubu, who sponsored the motion, described the injustices as a flagrant disregard of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, which in addition to prescribing powers to these various agencies, provides for the right of every Nigeria.
Referring to Chapter Four of the Constitution, which provides for life to right, right to freedom of movement, among others, she said that Nigeria subscribes to the African charter of human and people’s right and the convention against torture.
