Festus Keyamo
According to a report by SaharaReporters, the many students of Nile University of Nigeria, Abuja have embarrassed the Minister of State for Labour and Employment, Festus Keyamo after he claimed Nigerians will beg for the now-disbanded Special Anti-Robbery Squad (SARS).
SaharaReporters gathered that Keyamo was at the institution to deliver a lecture.
In October 2020, thousands of youths across the country hit the streets to protest against harassment and extra-judicial killings by SARS operatives.
The demonstrations garnered the support of several influential figures across the world, especially after operatives of the Nigerian Army stormed the Lekki tollgate protest ground in Lagos and opened fire on unarmed protesters on the night of October 20.
Speaking during the lecture, Keyamo blamed the worsening insecurity in Nigeria on the disbandment of SARS.
The Minister added that he was sure that Nigerians will be the ones calling and begging for SARS to come back, but the students, who were about 100 in number jeered at him.
“Can anyone now say #EndOperationLifeDole? Who can end it? I’m sure Boko Haram will March into Abuja. There was a time Boko Haram entered Abuja. So that’s the challenge, to maintain that security is fully maintained.
“That was the same thing we saw between SARS and human rights then, we have seen the porosity of removing security now because we wanted human rights at all cost. We ended SARS, we now see the problems we are facing,” Keyamo said.