…As Panel Moves to Restore Confidence on its Assignment

Relief came for two victims of Police brutality on Friday as they were each awarded N10million compensation. A sum of N10 million was presented to the family of late Kudirat Adebayo Abayomi, who was killed by a Police stray bullet in April 2017 while another  N10 million cheque was handed to Hannah Olugbode, a hairdresser, whose leg was left shattered by a stray bullet fired by some Special Anti Robbery Squad (SARS) officers around Ijeshatedo area of Lagos.

The panel also recommended the prosecution of the erring Police officers. It also awarded scholarship for the children, and resolved that a letter of apology should be presented by the Police to the family of the deceased in the case of Kudirat Adebayo Abayomi.

This latest attempt to address grievances of petitioners, form part of the high points of the move by the Lagos State Judicial Panel of Restitution and Inquiry to restore confidence within civil society, which is beginning to have some misgivings about the import of its assignment. The move is also some masterstroke to respond to growing worry that the panel was set up to take away steam from the issues that resulted in the EndSARS protest last October.

Set up by the government to investigate cases of Police brutality especially involving officers of the now-defunct SARS, the panel like several set up across the states, has received hordes of petitions from victims. Its recent decision to allow the Lekki Concession Company (LCC), managers of the Lekki Toll Gates, Lagos to resume operations stirred the hornet’s nest, sparking last weekend’s #OccupyLekkiTollGateprotests, with the youth members withdrawing from the panel.

While calling for justice for victims of the Lekki shooting of October 20^th, 2020, the Eti Osa Bar Forum in a release signed by its Chairman, Mr Oladotun Hassan and Secretary, Mr Ayo Ademiluyi, cast slur on the image of the panel.

“We are constrained to question the seriousness of both the Federal Government of Nigeria. Instead of the Federal Government of Nigeria taking responsibility for the activity and involvement of the Nigerian Army in the Lekki Toll Gate Shooting Incident, it has resorted to passing the buck by claiming it is awaiting the recommendations of the Lagos State Judicial Panel of Inquiry into Compensation and Restitution for SARS-Related Abuses and Other Related Matters.

“Yet the Minister of Information, Alhaji Lai Mohammed has been running several press conferences wherein fundamental rights are restricted, all in the name of “denying” whether or not the Shooting happened .

“On the part of the Lagos State Government, despite setting up the Lagos State Judicial Panel of Inquiry into Compensation and Restitution for SARS-Related Abuses and Other Related Matters and claiming 100 percent ownership of the Lekki Concession Company, the said Lekki Concession Company, few weeks into the end of the tenure, was granted repossession of the Lekki Toll Gate for resumption of business, before investigation was concluded.

The forum says, “We are of the view that governance is about the lives of citizens. The alternative is anarchy.”

“On the part of the Nigerian Army, it has failed to avail itself sufficient opportunities to reaffirm its neutrality in civilian affairs in general and innocence in the Lekki Shooting Matter in particular by refusing, failing and neglecting to respond to summons on her officers before the Lagos State Judicial Panel of Inquiry into Compensation and Restitution for SARS-Related Abuses and Other Related Matters.

“Yet, innocent Protesters who dared to protest this glaring injustices were subjected to harrowing experiences . We dare to ask : who is afraid of the #OccupyLekkiTollGate Protests?

“As a Forum of legal practitioners, we will be with left with no choice but to take all steps within the armbit of the law to call to question all parties that have questions to answer over the Lekki Shooting both within the national jurisdiction of Nigeria and overseas,” it contends.

Olugbode, who has been on crutches was also awarded N10 million for the stress and anxiety she suffered, and to help her undergo treatment.

Olugbodi, a 35-year-old hairdresser, had in November 2020, narrated how she ended up on crutches after her left leg was shattered by a stray bullet fired by some men of the disbanded SARS who were attempting to arrest a young man with tattoos in June 2018 at the Ijeshatedo area of Lagos.

Olugbodi said the SARS operatives were at one Ogun City Hotel, to allegedly demand money to fuel their vehicle when they saw the young man with tattoos among a group of persons watching a football match at the hotel.

According to the petitioner, the owner of the hotel, one Abu, who usually gave the SARS operatives money, was not around to attend to them.

She explained that the SARS operatives labelled the young man with tattoos a Yahoo Yahoo boy (cyber fraudster).

She further narrated that an attempt by the SARS operatives to arrest and take the boy with tattoos away was resisted by the other boys, making the SARS operatives resort to firing gunshots.

She said she was at Ijesha market trying to buy pepper to prepare food for her children to take to school the following day when she was hit by a stray bullet.

Olugbodi said the market women rushed towards her and asked her for her address and the name of her husband, which she managed to give before passing out.

She said she was eventually taken to the Lagos University Teaching Hospital where they said there was no bed space and she was given four bags of intravenous fluid right in the bus.

The presentation of the cheque was made on behalf of the Lagos State Government by chairman of the Lagos Judicial Panel, Justice Doris Okuwobi.