Lagos Governor, Babajide Sanwoolu has sworn in members of the Judicial panel of Inquiry and Restitution set up by the State Government to investigate cases of brutality and human rights violations committed by operatives of the dissolved Special Anti-Robbery Squad (SARS) took the oath at the State House, Marina.
Then, the panel members led by their chairman, Justice Doris Okuwobi, immediately moved to LASWA Building located at Falomo Roundabout in Ikoyi for inaugural proceedings.
Sanwoolu hailed the swiftness of the process of the panel members’ composition was an indication of State Government’s sincerity towards the quick resolution of the issues that led to the nationwide protests against policing system.
He said: “In the last two weeks, we have witnessed pockets of justified protests by our youth against police brutality. The pain of our young ones has been felt in various parts of Lagos and country as well as in the diaspora. The protesters have spoken in one voice against the unbridled violation of fundamental rights and lives by the disbanded SARS operatives.
“In my engagements with the protesters, they handed me a list of five immediate demands, which I personally presented to President Muhammadu Buhari last Tuesday. Before then, I had taken action on some of their demands, which included the immediate release of all those detained on account of their participation in the EndSARS protests and the raising of N200 million victims fund for compensation to families and individuals who were victimised by officers of the disbanded SARS.”
“In response to one of the demands of our youth and in line with the resolution of the National Economic Council on October 15, 2020, chaired by the Vice President, Prof Yemi Osinbajo, the Lagos State Government has constituted a Judicial Panel of Inquiry and Restitution under the chairmanship of a retired Judge of the Lagos High Court, Justice Doris Okuwobi. We assure all victims that justice will be served.”
The tribunal, which will sit for six months, is charged to evaluate the evidence and draw conclusions on the validity of public complaints on police brutality and extra judicial killings in Lagos, with the aim to determining and recommending compensation for victims and their dependents.
The tribunal also, in its terms of reference, is mandated to interrogate SARS officers responsible for the abuse of victims and recommend their prosecution. Sanwo-Olu said the panel took its legitimacy from Section 5 of Tribunals of Inquiry Law, Laws of Lagos State, 2015, stressing that the panel had powers to procure evidence and summon any person to attend its proceedings to give evidence or produce any document or other thing in the person’s possession.
Mr. Segun Awosanya(SEGALINK), a Human Rights activist, could not be sworn in with other panel members, as he was held in a traffic while coming for the event. Also, the representatives of the youth in the panel had not been nominated by the protesters at the time tribunal members were sworn.
