See, there is a reason intellectuals don’t like expressing their opinions on ordinary platforms like social media, people just won’t get it. The average person is filled with emotions and shortness of logic, so everything you say will be taken halfway and people don’t want to do the deep analysis of problems, neither do they want to discuss solutions. The means and the end is in complaining.
If you see a 20 years old boy in Kano driving a very expensive car you can be sure his father is rich. If you see a 20 years old boy in Benin driving a very expensive car you can be sure he is a Yahoo boy, 9.5 out of 10 times. This negative uniformity has created an environment for oppression from security agents (which does not justify the actions of the security agent). An environment that some innocent people have become victims of.
You can’t reform something you are not being honest about. Let us tell ourselves the whole truth, that is what I have clamoured for before any protest or campaign. You need to know what you are fighting for, you need to understand the nature of the problem.
I have asked several people, which Police man or woman do you know off duty that is a wicked person. I know a number of them and they act nicely off duty. The problem will start when you have a case, they turn into monsters. What does this teach you? Police excesses are systemic. It goes to how investigations are done and how assumptions are made even by the average Nigerian.
SARS operatives should be made to understand that he looks like a Yahoo boy, he is even obviously a Yahoo boy does not give you the right to assume he actually is. The same way the average Nigerian should be made to understand that he is a politician does not mean he is a thief.
He is in government does not mean he is there for his selfish reasons, he is rich does not mean he is corrupt and the host of other things we judge people on and even post on our social media handles, just because that is usually the case.
You that do not have a gun, you called Atiku a criminal for a year because you didn’t support his politics but somehow you are irritated that SARS sees young men with iPhone and big cars and assume they are thieves? Can’t you see that the thought process is the same? For me even Ganduje who is seen in a video collecting dollars I won’t call him a thief until a competent court of law says he is a thief.
If SARS had my mindset, you would have to be in active possession of firearm for them to arrest you. As SARS has the mindset of the average Nigerian, you only need to be a possession of a laptop before you are a Yahoo boy. You only need to buy a stolen phone before you are a thief. This is a mindset problem that is not going anywhere until we do the hard work. They only happen to have a gun hence their reaction is obvious.
I don’t see how obvious Yahoo boys will be roaming the street showing off and SARS will not extort them and in the process extort innocent people. We need to fix that problem while fixing SARS if not whatever Police Unit you bring up will turn into SARS just now. You can argue with this because many just want to argue. But when you are done kindly answer why SARS is not the same way in the North. I am open to the possibility that you have a better explanation.
Ohwojeheri is CEO at Minhaj Publicity
