#EndSARS vol.3 - AN UNIFORM DOESN’T MAKE YOU A GOOD SOLDIER

An interview with James Ochuko - 34 years old graduate of civil engineering (unemployed)

#EndSARS campaign of the Nigerian youths

A paceful protest or a civil rebellion?

October 2020

vol. 3

The previous interview                                                                    The next interview

vol.1 vol.2 vol.3 vol.4 vol.5 vol.6 vol.7 vol.8

A UNIFORM DOESN’T MAKE YOU A GOOD SOLDIER

CECYLIA BUCZKO:
What does a uniform mean for you?

JAMES OCHUKO: 

A uniform is a symbol of good behaviour, isn’t it? A man who wears a uniform should be an example for others, we learn this while attending the scouts group as children. Meanwhile the Nigerian police have a very bad reputation, especially the SARS.

Do you mean SARS bring disgrace to their uniforms?

They hardly ever wear it, you rather see them dressed like bandits on the road. But yes, they do, when it comes to their behaviour... They are famous for not respecting people, showing brutality, forcing bribes. But these are only the slightest accusations. Many people report unjust arrests by SARS, torturing people, beating or shooting their fellow passengers.

(The Sun Nigeria)

Why are the young people unjustly arrested by SARS?

There is a high rate of unemployment in Nigeria. Most of the young people don’t have a permanent job so they are especially liable to be arrested by SARS who are looking for the cyber-criminals. It is a commonly spread image of a Nigerian fraudster who makes their living by scamming naïve white people talking with them via the Internet and asking them to send money.

Don’t you agree the cyber-criminals should be arrested?

I totally agree they should be but it is unacceptable to treat each young person as they were villains, that's a totally wrong attitude. We young people often face the Police, SARS especially, controlling us and arresting only because of slight details which seem to be suspicious for them. But once we are arrested, even if we prove our innocence, it is getting very difficult for us to get out of their hands and everything just gets hectic.

Is it not enough to release you when there is no evidence of you being a fraudster? 

Sadly not. When they can’t find any proof to detain us they start forcing us to pay a bribe to be freed, they are even capable of using violence, threatening and torturing included, even killing…. That’s how some uniform men behave here. This is unacceptable…. That’s why most of the protesters are the young people. They feel not safe in their country and are bound and determined to make our government end SARS.

(Twitter - look here)

The other parts of the article you can read here:

Part 1 - NIGERIA AT 60 - WAS SHE WORTH CELEBRATING? 

Part 2 - IT WAS A MODERN PROTEST WHICH STARTED IN SOCIAL MEDIA

Part 3 - A UNIFORM DOESN’T MAKE YOU A GOOD SOLDIER

Part 4 - HAVING WHITE FRIENDS MAKES YOU A SCAMMER

Part 5 - HOW THE PEACEFUL PROTEST WAS HIJACKED BY HOODLUMS?

Part 6 - THE POWER OF PEOPLE IS STRONGER THAN THE PEOPLE IN POWER

Part 7 - OUR GOVERNMENT KILLS US – THE MASSACRE AT THE LEKKI TOLL GATE IN LAGOS

Part 8 - IT WAS NEVER MORE DANGEROUS TO BE A POLICEMAN HERE 

Written by: Cecylia Buczko

Cecylia Buczko