Lagos Governor, Babajide Sanwo-Olu
Gov Sanwo-Olu sets up committee on #EndSARS report, as a Panel awards N410m to 70 victims of police brutality
Lagos Governor, Mr. Babajide Sanwo-Olu, Monday, set up a four-member committee to raise a White Paper on the reports submitted by the Judicial Panel of Inquiry on Restitution for victims of SARS related abuses and other matters.
The committee is headed by state’s State Attorney-General and Commissioner for Justice, Mr. Moyosore Onigbanjo. Other members of the committee include; Commissioner for Youths and Social Development, Mr. Segun Dawodu; Special Adviser, Works and Infrastructure, Aramide Adeyoye, and Permanent Secretary, Cabinet Office, Mrs. Tolani Oshodi.
A statement by the state’s Commissioner for Information and Strategy, Mr Gbenga Omotoso, said the Governor constituted the committee after receiving the two reports of the Lagos State Judicial Panel of Inquiry on Restitution for victims of SARS-related abuses and other matters presented to him at the Lagos House, Ikeja by the chairman of the panel, Justice Doris Okuwobi (rtd).
Sanwo-Olu said the Committee would bring forward a White Paper within the next two weeks to be considered by the Lagos State Executive Council, pledging that the reports and recommendations will be made public and submitted to the National Economic Council for discussion.
The two reports submitted by the Panel to Lagos State Government are on the investigation on petitions on several cases of abuse and killings by the Nigerian Police, especially the disbanded Special Anti-Robbery Squad and the October 20, 2020, Lekki Toll Gate shootings during the EndSARS protests hijacked by hoodlums.
Sanwo-Olu also reassured Nigerians, especially residents of Lagos that the Government’s action would be guided by the law and in the public interest, even as he expressed hope that the Lagos State Government’s decision on the reports would bring complete healing, reconciliation and restitution.
“I am going to constitute a four-member committee immediately, which will be headed by the Attorney-General, the Commissioner for Youths and Social Development, the Special Adviser on Works and Infrastructure and the Permanent Secretary, the Cabinet office.
“The four of them will immediately look through and bring forward a White Paper within the next two weeks that will be considered at the Lagos State Executive Council and would be gazetted as a white paper coming from the Panel of Inquiry.
“We will ensure that the recommendations that are coming out that will be turned into a white paper and 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.
Speaking earlier, Justice Okuwobi, said part of the recommendations of the panel is establishment of a body to take over human rights abuses in Lagos.
Justice Okuwobi, who disclosed that the panel awarded a total of N410 million to 70 victims of police brutality, said 235 petitions were received with only 14 of them being on the alleged Lekki shooting incident.
“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.
