The Lagos State Judicial Panel on Restitution for Victims of Special Anti-Robbery Squad Related Abuses and other matters on Monday awarded N128.2m as compensation to 24 petitioners. The panel ended its almost 12 months sitting. According to the chairman of the panel Doris Okuwobi, the panel heard 186 petitions from 252 petitioners. She said cases not opened and unconcluded would be sent to the Lagos State Ministry of Justice for consideration on the future body that would handle human rights violations in the state. Mrs. Okuwobi advised the police to further investigate two officers, identified as Bawa and Salisu, attached to the Ojo police station. She did not give details of what the policemen committed. Concerning Pelumi Onifade’s petition vs state environmental task force, Mrs. Okuwobi said “petition adjourned sine die to await recommendations of the panel on the unheard petition.”
“The judicial panel, which started its sitting in October 2020, received 225 petitions from members of the public, out of which 252 were for hearing, and the panel during its sitting was able to decide on 182 petitions while 52 were not treated due to time factors.
“The 52 petitions that were not treated will be included in the panel reports for necessary advice and actions to be taken by the Lagos State Government through the Ministry of Justice,” she said.
On the Lekki shooting, the panel said it would submit its findings which include individual petitions on the incident to the state government, and recommend compensation to the petitioners.
Mrs. Okuwobi said the Lekki shooting report would be made public by the state government.
The judicial panel was set up by the Lagos State government in the wake of the #EndSARS protest against police brutality in October 2020 to investigate the excesses of the dissolved Federal Special Anti-robbery Squad and the Lekki shootings.