Governor Abdullahi Sule of Nasarawa State has emphasised the need to have a replacement for the banned Special Anti-Robbery Squad (SARS), stressing that even though SARS had it drawbacks, it was useful especially in Northern states.
Governor Sule made this known while being hosted on a programme on Channels Television, monitored, in Lafia, on Sunday.
According to the governor, the defunct SARS has benefited some states in the North, as well as some states in the South, stressing that there is need to put in place a replacement.
Governor Sule said even though there were some bad eggs within the squad, he got to learn that SARS officers were well trained to be able to face armed robbers, as well as those other crimes that other policemen will not be able to do.
“In Nasarawa State, we have had a lot of robbery cases, where SARS became very handy.
“They were very helpful; they were able to help us, especially in the state capital, Lafia. It was SARS that helped us a lot to be able to do that,” he stated.
While noting that Northern Governors are not against the ongoing protests by youths seeking the ban of SARS, Governor Sule, however, said the reason why some governors were asking for reforming of the SARS instead of throwing the baby with the bath water, was because SARS was useful in some states.
On whether there should be a unified security template for all the states of the country, the governor observed that no single security template can work across all states mostly because every state has its peculiar security challenge.
“The security challenges of every state is different.
“Lagos doesn’t have the kind of problems we have in Nasarawa State. Lagos might have robberies and things like that but not banditry, kidnapping that we have in the northern part of the country. Lagos doesn’t have Boko Haram like we have in Borno State.
“There is no clear template that can be a take all for everybody, there is none. Because we are different states and we have different challenges,” Governor Sule explained.
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Speaking on the twist in the protest, which has taken a new dimension, with some people calling for widespread reforms, the Governor said since his assumption of office, President Muhammadu Buhari has shown commitment to whatever is of benefit to the common man, more than that of the wealthy.
He, however, agreed that there was disconnect about some of these issues, since sometimes what bothers the north may not necessarily be what is a problem in the south.
