FOLASHADE KEHINDE
GOVERNOR Yahaya Bello of Kogi State said, on Monday, that the disbandment of the Special Anti-Robbery Squad dampened the moral of police operatives and sent them away from the streets.
Bello said this was the major cause of the lawlessness and looting witnessed across various parts of the country in the past few days.
Speaking on Channels Television Sunrise Programme, the Governor said, while no one faulted the motive behind the #EndSARS protests, the scrapping of SARS pushed the police officers to abandon their jobs.
He said, “Now that SARS has ended, police morale has been dampened; they have gone off the streets, and the hoodlums have taken to the streets. Who do we report to?”
Looting has continued across Nigeria in spite of the directive by the Inspector-General of Police, Mohammed Adamu, that police officers should reclaim the public space.
Nigerians are, however, apprehensive that the rise in criminal activities, occasioned by hoodlums hijacking the #EndSARS protests was not being addressed strongly by the security agencies.
Just on Monday, hoodlums looted the COVID-19 palliatives warehouse in Gwagwalada, Abuja, carting away food items.
The National Youth Service Corps Orientation Camp in Kubwa, Abuja, was also looted on Tuesday, while on Sunday, there were gunshots around the residence of a former Speaker of the House of Representatives, Yakubu Dogara, when hoodlums stormed the house to loot valuables.
Operatives could not prevent the hoodlums, in their numbers, from carting away movable valuables from the house, despite the curfew imposed by the state government.
“They moved electronics, furniture, everything they could move,” an eyewitness said.
