The Lagos State judicial panel on restitution for victims of SARS related abuses and other matters sitting in Lagos today Friday 15th October 2021 awarded 91 million naira as compensation to victims of rights abuses which makes it a total of N262 million naira that has so far been awarded to 47 petitioners by the panel since it started sitting.
However a petition of Micheal Okorie vs the Nigeria police force was dismissed for lacking in merit among several decisions of awards made by the panel today. A petitoner 15 year old Mariam Shobukola was awarded 8 million naira for injuries sustained from a stray bullet in February 2020. The families of late Eric Okwaji, late Felix Lucky, Late Ayuub Azeez, late Gregory Egwu and late Charles Otoo all received 10 million naira each for the unlawful killing of their loved ones by SARS and police operatives.
Other petitioners including Tobe Ikoro, Robinson Chidera, Ayeni Adebayo and Henry Chukwuma all received cheques in compensation sum ranging from one million to nine million naira each for rights abuses by security operatives.
The highlight of the day was that the panel heard testimonies from 13 serving police officers who suffered various degrees of personal injuries and losses including cases of rape and murder of family members as a result of the 2020 EndSARS protests when many police stations and barracks were attacked, vandalized and burnt.
Among those who testified was Assistant Commissioner of police ACP Gbolahan Olugbeyi, area commander area J of the Nigeria police force Lagos State command, whose police station J was attacked and destroyed as a result of the October 2020 EndSARS protests. He also narrated that he was shot in the leg by the protesters who invaded the station and had to resort to traditional medicine for treatment.
The panel chairman Justice Doris Okuwobi (Rtd.) informed that the panel will communicate the date to deliver it’s decisions on the police petitions to them in due course due to time constraints.
The panel will hold it’s valedictory sitting on Monday 18th October 2021 after having been sitting since it’s inauguration on 27th October 2020.
…. As posted by Adewuyi Adeshina Nasir