Special Focus: SARS is created to hit robbers

By: Ola Pat

Nigeria Police Complain Channels 

About 2 weeks ago, the social media was aflame with the outcry of injustices against the operative Special Anti-Robbery Squad, SARS. The cry for justices started from the social media and like a wide fire spread to other media as more victims recounted their ordeal in the hands of the operatives at different times and places. Though, the Police authority later grudgingly takes some steps to appease those calling for the heads of SARS by fishing out about 31 members as sacrificial lambs, the police initial reaction through the Police Public Relation office was to try to blackmail those calling for the end #endsars of the outfit tagging them robbers. But instead more people including celebrities add more by sharing their experience too. With the online campaign and street protests in some cities in Nigeria, it was obvious that the Police Tactical Squad called SARS has been corrupt absolutely by the absolute powers it corned from the failure of the Police to curb crime.

The result of these outcries and description of the exploitation of the public by SARS has yielded a partial victory as the police authority has provided communication channels to report the atrocity committed by the squad members. Though, time has blurred out the purpose and origin of the Squad. Commune Magazine takes you on a memory lane. SARS was conceived as a police tactical squad trained to combat Armed Robbers at lease that was the initial concept of setting up the squad in Lagos, until recently that the squad start hunting for fraudsters, 419ers and anything and everything that will surrender illegitimate cash to the squad team members.

SARS was created by Mr. Mike Okiro in 1991 in response to the incessant robbery and constant assault on policemen at roadblocks in and around Lagos. As at that time, there is a notorious armed robber that scares the daylight out of every police officer in Lagos by the name of Shina Rambo. His modus operandi was to snatch exotic cars and according to reports move them in a long convey into Benin republic. But the most daring part of this daredevil operation is a shoot at sight of anything in police uniform. Thus, the situation at that is to develop a strategy that will not only conceal the police response team but that can also guaranty an element of surprise.   This is the genesis of SARS.

According to Mr. Okiro in a recent interview in Daily Trust “The idea was that they would be in mufti, and armed, simply for the very important element of surprise. They would take cover, and communicating with walkie-talkies, hit the armed robbers. They did that two or three times, and the robbery attacks went down, drastically, and at a point stopped altogether." The effective containment of the activities of armed robbers then prompted other police divisions across the country to fashion out a similar squad with the same name leading to the gradual erosion of the goals and purpose of the squad.

The success of the squad operation relies heavily on blending in with the populace by being in or wearing mufti in other to invade detection by the robbers until it is too late to react appropriately. As earlier pointed out, the nightmare of the car owners, Shina Rambo abhorred the sight of police uniform, so by wearing mufti SARS unit are able to jump on him and his gang before they are noticed. In the said interview Mr. Okiro insisted that SARS duty as constitute “is not to investigate, but to hit, it’s a Special Anti-Robbery Squad, not an investigative one”.

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THE ORIGIN OF 'MAMMY MARKET

(Copied from the Facebook wall of Sir Gabriel Omonhinmin)

Sir Gabriel Omonhinmin has at various times worked as a reporter, correspondent, News Editor and news producer at Voice of Nigeria before he went into private practice. He presently writes “The palace Watch” column for the Guardian newspaper every Sunday.

History is always sweet, but the Nigeria National Assemblies -2015-2019 set have failed to pass the law that will make the study of history compulsory in Nigeria Schools.

****

It was in 1959. Mammy Ode, a young girl from Jericho-Ugboju in the present Otukpo Local Government Area of Benue State was married to Anthony Aboki Ochefu, a young Non-Commissioned military officer who had just been posted to Enugu from Abeokuta.

Mrs. Mammy Ochefu 

They were quartered at the Army Barracks, Abakpa, Enugu. To beat idleness and perhaps earn some money to support her young family, Mrs. Mammy Ochefu established a soft drinks business. She prepared gruel, which is called umu or enyi in Idoma, or kunu in Hausa, for sale to soldiers. She soon became popular with her stuff as soldiers trooped to her house to buy enyi. Some of her best customers were officers, who always sent their batmen to buy some of the gruel for them, Monday through Friday.

Somehow, one of the Non-Commissioned Officers, the RSM, did not flow with the enthusiasm, which Mammy’s gruel generated among other military men in the barracks. He complained that the stuff was attracting flies into the barracks and ordered Mrs. Mammy Ochefu to stop its production and sale.

Though surprised and disappointed at the order of the RSM, she stopped the production and sale of enyi. Her husband, not being an officer at the time, could not challenge the order of the RSM.

For weeks, Mrs. Mammy Ochefu agonized over the fate of her business, just as officers and men of the Nigerian Army who enjoyed her enyi because of its freshness and nutritional value lamented the situation.

From several quarters, pressure mounted on the RSM for a reversal of the order. After a while, he succumbed to the pressures and directed that a section of the barracks be reserved for Mrs. Mammy Ochefu to produce and sell her enyi. Her joy knew no bounds.

Few days after, a section of the barracks was given to her. She built a small shop and soon, her business began to boom. Most of her customers booked for their shares in advance. Before noon, she would have finished selling the available enyi for the day.

Soon, other women in the barracks tapped into her fortune and started selling other items. It was not long before that portion of the barracks became known as Mammy Market. It also became a policy to establish markets inside or near military barracks in the country, initially for the exclusive use of officers and men. Today, no visit to Abuja, the Federal Capital City, is complete without a taste of fresh fish in one of the Mammy Markets, especially the one attached to Abacha Barracks.

Similar markets attached to paramilitary barracks are also called Mammy Markets.
After the coup that overthrew General Yakubu Gowon, Anthony Aboki Ochefu, then a Colonel was posted to East Central State as Military Governor. So Mrs. Mammy Ochefu and her husband returned to Enugu as the First Family; she sometimes visited the site where Mammy Market started about sixteen years earlier It must be stressed too that in retirement, Colonel Anthony Aboki Ochefu and his wife incorporated a company, Mammy Markets, which was into haulage and trading.

Mrs. Mammy Ochefu is alive and lives at Otukpo as one of the prized legends of our time.

*******

In addition; Obasanjo fired her husband, Col. Ochefu in 1976 alongside 215 other officers. Ochefu was ostensibly fired for his alleged misconduct before the bloody coup that ousted Murtala Muhammed. Then Ochefu was Commanding Officer of the Lagos Garrison. Ochefu was shot dead at a petrol station in Oturkpo, Benue State, on 25 November 1999 under a mysterious circumstance.

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Source: Maj Gen Kaleosho rtd, former Comdt TRADOC

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SPECIAL REPORT: Gated street and Security

By: Ola Pat, Aisha Abdul-Lateef and Olarewaju Yussuf

Locked gate of Oduguwa Street

It has become part of the Lagos culture for residents to have a street association that cater more to the security needs than to their environmental challenges, a carryover from the failure of government to provide adequate security for the citizenry. It is a “rarity” to find a street in Lagos apart from Victoria Island and a part of Ikoyi without a gate. Shomolu-Bariga, Gbagada and Environs are all gated communities and understandably so. CommuneMagazine, CM can reliably inform you that streets without a gate are making frantic effort to make their gate.

The street gate concept escalated in Lagos during the regime of the Sanni Abache Government, when issue of security was jettison totally by all level of government. And since then, the lives of the citizens have never be the same as street  gate and security levies became part of citizens monthly expense yet millions of Naira is budgeted for and expended on security by all level of government. This excludes the notorious and unaccounted for security vote, an assault on citizens’ intelligent.

To achieve this desired street security, every streets has its owning governing bodies i.e. association or committee saddled with the street security. Whatever the named chosen, they are often voted in every year or two with the tag Landlords-Residents’ Association under the leadership of a landlord. Posts such as Chainman, financial secretary and treasurer are often reserved for Landlords, a carryover from the colonial politics. This is the norm in all the associations except in some few communities.

In an interview granted CM, Alhaji Tajudeen Bello, chairman Onasanya Street Association gave reasons why the chairmanship and treasurer positions are reserved for Landlords. According to him, tenants can move at anytime to another area without batting an eye lid. These positions are very sensitive because they are sometimes entrusted with levies collected from residents. The Chairman of Olusoji Residents’ Association chairman, Mr. Ajiboye Afolabi also collaborate this statement, he averred that the landlord or any members of his/her household cannot run away with the association’s money because they have a landed property that tied them to the community while the same thing cannot be said for a tenant, who can vanished without a trace.

The Lagos State Government, LSG has been inundated with the reports of abuse and perpetual locked down of some street against traffic permanently. The fight to remove this hindrance to easy access to government infrastructure began during the Administration of Babatunde Fashola. In fact, the fight was to open up the inner roads to vehicular traffic in order to reduce traffic on major roads and prolong the life span.

In February 2016, the LSG re-launched the campaign against locking of street gates between the hours of 5 am and 12 midnight with a note that streets that failed to comply will have their gates pull down. The LSG also stipulated as part of the term of having a street gate that every locked gate between 12 midnight to 5 am must be manned so that in cases of emergences the gates can quickly be opened.

The senior special Assistant to the Governor on Community Affairs Adversary Council, Mr. Tajudeen Adeniyi Quadri said it is totally on acceptable that street put up gates or barricades that obstruct buses and articulated vehicles. “This government therefore observes with caution that though the erecting and closing of these gates may be desirable, the consequences on the overall urban efficiency, aesthetics and functionality of the city and especially traffic flow poses questions difficult to answer.” He declared.

Hon. Muslim Folami, Commissioner for Local Government and Community Affairs reiterating the LSG determination to have all streets gate open to the public said “In view of the challenges posed by the unrestricted erection of street gates, the State Government is revisiting the directive on the gates and barricades. Any contravention of this directive will attract necessary punishment for defaulters”

Meanwhile, he went further to say that street that have failed to comply with the LSG directives have had their gates about 148 gates earmarked for demolition, 84 of which have been pulled down. “The Ministry promoted 24-hour access through gated streets in the State with the involvement of Community Development Associations in the State. So far, enforcement in 84 locations has been effected as at April, 2016. This is being done to improve security, free flow of traffic, safety of lives and properties of all citizens in the State.” he said.

In spite of government effort to guaranty freedom of movement according to the Nigeria constitution, the residents of Oduguwa Street woke up on Oct 5, 2016 to operation show your receipt. The street, one of the longest and a major access road in the Ladi-Lak area of Bariga to about four other major streets and a mini-market had 10 gates, 9 of which were locked down by the street’s security coordinators. According to one of those manning the only gate left opened, who refuse blatantly to identify himself to CM correspondent on ground, the gates were locked down because some of the residents failed to pay their security levy, thus only people with evidence of payment i. e. receipt will be allowed to go out of the street. He went to further to say the residents were given two weeks ultimatum.

All effort to speak with the chairman or the person representing the security coordinators was frustrated. One of the residents, who spoke with CM based on the condition of anonymity, said he did not know the chairman of the committee. But he had heard about the purported lock down but he did not believe it is possible. A shop owner in the community said although they allowed people to come into the street, she had to go and meet one of her customers at the lock gate because it was a long journey for her to go round and use the open gate.

As at 11:25 am, when our correspondent was leaving the Street, the gates were still under lock and key. CM sorts the opinions of some community leaders on the issue of locking up residents in order to effect payment of security levies. In a Whatsapp chat with Ayoola Julius Esq, popularly called The Law, he found it unjustifiable and totally unacceptable to lock residents in simply to force them to pay their dues. “Street Associations are not government institutions and as such they have no competence to do what they do by locking out residents on the account of nonpayment of security levies. This is different in th case of private estate.

The chairman of Akoka CDA, Mr. Adesanya could not understand why residents will refuse to pay for something they derived direct benefits from. “The only way people understand is locking the gate some of the time”. On being told that the government wants all gate open between 5 am to midnight? He replied, we need to assist the government, the police in areas of security, if not it would have been free for all for men of the underworld. In response to the question, if its right to lock people in because they can’t pay their security levies, he asked if it is right to keep people outside at night in the cold through the month, while people are sleeping inside their homes. Then fail to pay them at the end of the month. “Did you realize those security have families at home? How do you pay them? I think it will be wickedness on our part if those guys were not paid at the end of the month. Its call community watch, who pays for it?

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