The Special Anti-Tout Squad of Anambra (SASA) is a security outfit whose members wield pestles and other dangerous weapons of torture. In Anambra State, members of SASA have gained notoriety for maiming people with their pestles while carrying out their duties.
Before Gov. Chukwuma Soludo became the governor of Anambra, the state was the haven of touts and thugs who committed atrocious crimes under the guise of collecting road levies from commercial motorists. They were feared and dreaded. And their nefarious activities gave the state a bad name, and scared investors away.
So upon taking over the reins of power as governor, Gov. Soludo formed the Special Anti-Tout Squad of Anambra with the intention of ridding Anambra roads of touts, thugs, and miscreants whose activities endangered the lives of people. His decision to form SASA is good. It’s the hope of Gov. Soludo that SASA members would work within the ambit of the law and bring back sanity to our roads.
But the obverse is obtaining in Anambra state, now. The torrents of complaints which have trailed its activities are indicative that SASA is abusing and misusing the enormous power entrusted to it. It is an exemplification of the case of the falcon not able to hear the falconer, anymore.
On July 1, 2025, SASA operatives went haywire in Chief Emeka Anyaoku’s home town of Obosi. Under the pretext that they’re chasing fleeing drug peddlers, they menacingly barged into the Obosi town hall. They upturned chairs in the town hall and smashed glass windows of the building. Cars, which were parked on the premises of the town hall were not spared as they were damaged. And one of the operatives of SASA, in a moment of madness, drew his machete and cut the hand of an infant whose mother was cradling.
What the SASA operatives did in Obosi displeased and incensed Obosi people so much that they contemplated staging a protest to call Gov. Soludo’s attention to the mayhem. Thankfully, the Obosi Development Union President General, Chimezie Obi, dissuaded the people from staging a protest.
Expectedly, the Obosi people’s outcry against the SASA operatives’ act of barbarism elicited response from the appropriate quarters. The representatives of the Anambra State government led by Prof. Solu Chukwulobelu and Obosi people had a parley at Obosi town hall. And the Anambra State government has promised to conduct an investigation into the SASA operatives’ act in Obosi and other places, with a view to overhauling that security outfit and punishing its operatives found guilty of engagement in misdeeds.
But the despicable, reprehensible, and barbaric deeds, which are being carried out by SASA operatives are de-marketing the governorship candidature of Gov. Chukwuma Soludo of Anambra state. SASA has, unwittingly, provided Gov. Soludo’s political rivals the arsenal with which to shoot down his governorship candidature. SASA has become the falcon that cannot hear the falconer, anymore.
So it behooves Gov. Chukwuma Soludo to act wisely, decisively, and swiftly to disabuse the people’s minds of the erroneous notion that SASA is his tool for waging political wars. But that is not the case. So it is high time SASA was reorganized and the bad eggs removed. Just as throwing the bath water away with the baby is not good, disbanding SASA will not bode well for us all given the activities of touts and thugs on our roads and their penchant for committing violent crimes.
But the glittering leadership scorecard of Gov. Soludo, which has placed him in a pole position to win the November 2025 governorship election, should not be sullied and whittled away by the misdeeds of the few bad eggs in SASA. Rather, they should be called to order so that the falcon can start hearkening to the falconer.
Chiedu Uche Okoye,
Uruowulu-Obosi,
Anambra State
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