Some youths in Ogun State have asked Governor Dapo Abiodun to publish the findings of the state Judicial Panel of Investigation on Police Brutality, Human Rights Violations and Extra-Judicial Killings. Hire a Grant Writer
The Ogun Youth Assembly, under which the youngsters operate, said the publishing of the report will enhance transparency and complement the administration’s youth development legacy, reported Saturday PUNCH.
The group’s Chairman, Habeeb Whyte, in a letter to the governor, seen by our correspondent on Thursday, said the report was formally given to Abiodun on July 9, 2021 after which the governor committed to follow the suggestions.
Following the #EndSARS protests across the country in 2020, Whyte said, the state government constituted a judicial commission headed by retired Justice Solomon Olugbemi to probe alleged cases of police brutality, human rights breaches and extra-judicial killings.
“Citizens came before the panel, lodged petitions and gave evidence in the hope that the process would bring justice and closure,” he said.
I am not raising this problem from afar. “I saw that petitions were taken seriously and the expectations of citizens who came before the panel,” said Whyte.
Whyte, then Legal Adviser to the state Police Community Relations Committee, said the panel received 106 petitions and evaluated 58.
The panel’s 289-page report made recommendations including N218m compensation for 42 victims or their families, he said.
Whyte questioned why there was no public accounting of the status of suggestions years after the report was submitted.
“The key question is an easy one: where is the report and what happened to its recommendations?” he enquired.
The lack of information available to the public has generated doubt around compensation, disciplinary actions and issues that may have been reported to federal authorities, he said.
Whyte called on the governor to make the report public with an implementation matrix indicating for each suggestion the accountable authority, actions taken, steps yet to be completed and dates.
Where compensation has been paid the government should record it and deal with remaining obligations according to the law, he said.
The release of the study should not be interpreted as an attack on the government. “It’s an opportunity for the administration to show confidence in its own processes and build public trust,” he said.
“The #EndSARS protests were a major generational call for dignity, accountability and responsible policing, and the issue was still important to Ogun youths,” Whyte noted.
The #EndSARS rallies in 2020 against police brutality spurred state governments across the country to establish up judicial committees of inquiry to examine violations and offer compensation for victims.
Some states released their results and distributed funds to victims but rights groups and civil society organisations have frequently called on governments that have yet to publish their entire investigations or implement recommendations to do so.
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