How SARS Killed An Only Son Years Ago At Awkuzu, Anambra State

 How SARS Killed An Only Son Years Ago At Awkuzu, Anambra State On that faithful day in the year 2012, my door bell rang and when  I opened,...

 How SARS Killed An Only Son Years Ago At Awkuzu, Anambra State

On that faithful day in the year 2012, my door bell rang and when  I opened, behold it was an elderly man and he asked me in our dialect, where is your elder brother, young man? My elder brother is a Human Right Activist under Anambra East local government, Otuocha chapter.  Then I replied, do have a sit sir let me fetch him. When my brother eventually came in, tears rolled down the elderly man's cheeks as he began to narrate what happened.

"My son", referring to my brother, "three months back, my only surviving son was arrested by officers of Anambra East Police Command at Otuocha and he had been illegally locked up in their cell. We have been going to the police station daily to deliver some food stuffs to him, but I became sorrowfully terrified as I had last seen my son about a month ago. When I went there as usual, the police told me that he (my son) along with others had been transferred to the department of the Special Anti-Robbery Squad (SARS) Awkuzu. I had gone to the SARS station to ask them about my son almost thrice a week but on each occasion, they would order me to go home and come back later."

"The last time I visited, a young man I met outside was courageous enough to tell me that I have lost my son, that I cannot find him again. With a shock I replied, how? Then he continued by saying; sir, can you see that building over there? That is my abode. Any person or persons brought to this department of SARS operatives has a very slim chance of coming out alive. From my observation, I think they do take laws into their own hands." They do not take their victims to court neither do they put them on bail. They always gather their prisoners at night, load them into their mini truck and head to that direction. That is where they do have their inmates murdered. Many times we do hear them scream in agony, he concluded.

Then my brother asked what is your child's offence? Then he replied "for all I know; he is a motorcyclist and he told me at the prison where he was, that he was arrested when the police stopped him at their check point and realized that he had no license to the bike. They requested him to bail himself with five thousand naira (N5,000) at that very spot which he had not. It was then that they accused him of theft and took him to the station." The following day my brother went with him to Awkuzu SARS station to ascertain what really happened. At their arrival, my brother presented himself as a mere visitor and again they were told to go and come back the following day. When the following day had fully come,  they went back there again and were at the verge of being sent back home the second time when my brother pulled out his Identity card as a Human Right Activist and presented it to them. 

It was then that they told him that he (the elderly man's son), had been transferred to Abuja. When inquires were made in Abuja SARS stations, behold, they all denied having anybody that looked like him in custody. Till now, that young man has not been found and the father as well had died two years ago in 2018. This is how the family got wiped off. What a painful tragedy! Generally, SARS is evil. These operatives have became the worst enemies of the people mostly in the Eastern and Southern regions of the so-called Nigeria, rather than carrying out their constitutional functions.

SARS needs to be entirely dissolved because the operatives are terrorists. They harrass at will, molest and kill at  will in Nigeria. They are the licensed killer squad of the Nigerian government against the poor, innocent and hardworking indigenous peoples in the country and I hereby join all other concerned citizens to call on the International Community to pressure the Nigerian government to #EndSARSnow.

Written by Ifeanyi Chibueze James

Edited by Elemeghideonye Nnamdi Stephen

For Family Writers Press International

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