The Lagos State Judicial Panel of Enquiry and Restitution for Victims of Special Anti-Robbery Squad (SARS)-related abuses and the October 20 Lekki Tollgate shootings affirmed on Monday that it awarded N410 million to 70 victims of Police brutality.
The panel stated this in the report it submitted to Lagos State Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu yesterday.
The amount confirms The Nation’s story following the panel’s conclusion of its assignment on October 18, 2021.
The Nation had reported, among others, that 235 petitions were received with only 14 of them being on the alleged Lekki shooting incident.
Receiving the report on Monday, Governor Sanwo-Olu set up a four-member committee, led by the Attorney-General and Commissioner for Justice, Mr. Moyosore Onigbanjo (SAN), to issue a white paper on the findings.
Other members of the committee are Commissioner for Youths and Social Development Segun Dawodu; Special Adviser, Works and Infrastructure Mrs Aramide Adeyoye and Permanent Secretary, Cabinet Office, Mrs Tolani Oshodi.
The committee is to submit the white paper within two weeks for consideration by the Lagos State Executive Council.
The governor pledged that the reports and recommendations will be made public and submitted to the National Economic Council (NEC).
He constituted the committee after receiving the two reports presented to him at the Lagos House, Ikeja by the panel chairman, Justice Doris Okuwobi (retd).
The reports are on the investigation on petitions on several cases of abuse and killings by the Police, especially the disbanded Special Anti-Robbery Squad (SARS) and the October 20, 2020, Lekki Toll Gate shootings during the #EndSARS protests.
Sanwo-Olu promised that the government’s action would be guided by the law and in the public interest.
The governor expressed hope that the Lagos State government’s decision on the reports would bring complete healing, reconciliation and restitution.
“We will ensure that the recommendations that are coming out that will be turned into a white paper would be made available to the public.
“We will do it appropriately so that history will judge us well and we will have a document that will stand the test of time. That is what the tribunal law says so that it will be properly documented and gazetted in government’s records,” he said.
Sanwo-Olu, who pointed out that the panel had operated independently, commended members of the Justice Okuwobi-led panel for a job well done and also expressed appreciation to Lagosians for their cooperation during the exercise, which lasted for almost a year.
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Justice Okuwobi said part of the recommendations of the panel is the establishment of a body to take over human rights abuses in Lagos.
“As much as the panel desired to have taken all petitions, the ones that were not taken by the panel were those that did not comply to our rules. So in this report, we made recommendations for a body to take over human rights abuse cases in Lagos State,” she said.
A member of the panel, Ebun-Olu Adegboruwa (SAN), in a statement, urged the governor to make the findings public.
He said: “True to his word, the governor granted total independence to the panel, as we worked according to our conscience and based upon our common convictions.
“Specifically for the Lekki Toll Gate Investigation, we set up certain crucial issues for determination, as to whether: there was any protest at the Lekki Toll Gate, the nature of the protest, the presence and mission of soldiers at the Lekki Toll Gate, whether blank or live bullets were shot by the soldiers, whether there was any death and if so, the numbers involved, whether there was any massacre at the Lekki Toll Gate on October 20, 2020, and if so, what evidence is available in proof thereof, whether the police were at the Lekki Toll Gate and if so, whether they shot and killed the protesters, etc.
“The panel answered these questions truthfully, frankly and courageously, based on the evidence led before it, believing that the crimes against humanity that took place at the Lekki Toll Gate on October 20, 2020, would never happen again in our nation…
“Although I have my copy of the report of the panel, I will trust His Excellency to fulfil his promise to Nigerians to make the findings and recommendations of the panel public.
“That is the only way to build a true nation and avoid a repeat of the atrocious acts of security agencies against our people, especially the youths, the vulnerable and the helpless.”
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