The North Clamoring To Keep SARS, A Political Agenda —Chief Uwalaka

By Abigail Ojore
A security expert, Coordinator of Non-Indigenes, Delta Central, Vice President, Ohanaeze Ndigbo, Delta Central and Manager of BZ Hotels, Abraka in Delta State, Chief Raphael Nnamdi Uwalaka, has said that the north’s clamor to retain the already disbanded SARS group is nothing but a political agenda.

According to him, it is the rich graduates in the state that sponsored the agenda because the illiterate ones don’t even have an idea of what is going on.

Speaking exclusively to Oasis Magazine (OM), Chief Uwalaka added that the EndSARS protest is a good one and that it would help to get people to desist from criminal activities in the country.

When asked if IPOB was involved in the protest, he said, “IPOB are Nigerians, they are in Nigeria so they have to be involved. They have been protesting before now, so if we don’t mention IPOB’s involvement then we don’t know what we are saying.”

However, he did not categorically say if he was a member of the IPOB or not. He said being an Igbo man automatically makes him a member of IPOB but that doesn’t hinder him from advising the organization on some of the decisions they take.

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Speaking on whether the excesses of the EndSARS could have been avoided, he said, “The problem is not only the SARS personnel but also from the higher authorities although some members of the higher authorities are not usually aware of what the men on the field are doing.”

Chief Uwalaka suggested that the president should improve the salaries being paid to the members of the police force, saying that if these people are not well paid and taken care of, it is impossible for them to function as they should in the different places they have been assigned to and it is due to this reason that they end up extorting individuals in a bid to make more income.

Meanwhile, he revealed that those people who are protesting against the introduction of SWAT are people who have something to hide or who are involved in one criminal activity or the other.

He also said that without the police, SWAT or SARS, there would be a high rate of crime in the country.

He admonished the government to make sure that the SWAT team is well managed and monitored and also ensure that they are well paid and catered for in order to prevent what happened with SARS from happening again.

Speaking further on whether voting in a youth president in 2023 will solve the problems in the country, he said that empowering youths in the country is a problem because they tend to misuse such power.

Uwalaka advised that Nigerians must support the government and also the police and see how things work out from now till 2023 before making any decision on having a youth president