Over the last weekend, news broke about the death of four members of the Anambra State Anti-Touting Squad, otherwise known as SASA, in Oba, Anambra State. According to reports, the operatives of the agency were driving against the traffic when they ran into a tipper which smashed their bus, killing four on the spot and injuring another. SASA is an agency set up by the Anambra State Government to move against touts in Onitsha and environs.
However, since the establishment of this agency, many believe that their activities and modus operandi are no different from the touts they are fighting against. Their crude method of using pestles to smash the bones of perceived touts has left much to be desired and has led many to wonder why such has continued to be condoned by the State Government despite many complaints.
Last year, a man known as Mgbilimgba had his legs shattered after he was repeatedly beaten with pestles by the operatives of SASA who recorded the beating and posted it on social media. As the outrage trailing that incident was yet to die down, a former chairman of Onitsha Chamber of Commerce had his spinal cord broken by same people who again used pestles to beat him up over a perceived offence. Both men are still been receiving treatment at the Orthopedic Hospital in Enugu.
Indeed, SASA’s crude methods have left a bile taste in the mouth of civilised folks and made them very unpopular among people in the commercial city of Onitsha and environs. In November last year, two members of the outfit were set ablaze by an irate mob after they caused the death of a young man waiting for a bus.
And then, last weekend, they were said to be chasing a defaulter and driving against the traffic when they had a head-on collision with a tipper in their bus, leading to the death of four of them. In the viral video after the crash, bystanders could be heard gloating over the sad fate that befell the officials, a very unfortunate development. But it goes to show how the operatives of the agency are hated and despised by the local population.
Although we had run an editorial in the last edition on this topic, the recent incident in Oba has made it imperative that we revisit it to underline the great need for the state government to take a hard look at the activities of these people. A situation where the populace, daily complain against their activities, must mean that something is seriously wrong with the outfit.
The question will always be asked, why anyone should be carrying a pestle with which people are hit and injured, in a civilised society. That the state government has refused to stop this is very strange, alarming and unacceptable, especially as these operatives are going beyond their brief. The state government’s silence to complaints against these people will probably prove the fears of some people right that the newly formed security outfit, Agunechemba, will eventually metamorphose into a tool for harassing and intimidating people, especially those opposed to the State Government.
Indeed, there is no justifiable reason why the Anambra State Government should not have stopped SASA officials from carrying pestles and using such to beat up perceived defaulters. It is nothing but shameful and repugnant in a state with many educated individuals and a professor as Governor.
Is the State Government waiting till riots break out against the operations of SASA before it acts? All signs point to the fact that things have reached a breaking point, with a major catastrophe set to happen.
We urge the Government of Anambra State, to therefore, call these people to order. They should be stopped from carrying any weapon but to take defaulters to the appropriate authorities after apprehending them.
Their activities are an embarrassment to the people of the state and this must stop.
