Lagos State governor, Mr Babajide Sanwo-Olu, on Monday said the state government is resolved to implement recommendations of the Lagos State Judicial Panel of Inquiry on Restitution for victims of #EndSARS related abuses and other matters submitted to him by the panel.
Sanwo-Olu gave this vow while receiving the reports from the panel chairman, Justice Doris Okuwobi (rtd.), at the Lagos House, Ikeja, and immediately constituted a four-member committee led by Lagos State Attorney-General and Commissioner for Justice, Mr Moyosore Onigbanjo (SAN) to raise a White Paper on the reports of the panel within two weeks.
Other members of the committee are Commissioner for Youths and Social Development, Mr Segun Dawodu; Special Adviser, Works and Infrastructures, Engr (Mrs) Aramide Adeyooye and Permanent Secretary, Cabinet Office, Mrs Tolani Oshodi.
Governor Sanwo-Olu said the four-member committee would bring forward a White Paper within the next two weeks to be considered by the Lagos State Executive Council, pledging that the reports and recommendations would be made public and submitted to the National Economic Council (NEC) for discussion.
“I am going to constitute a four-member committee immediately, which will be headed by the Attorney-General, the Commissioner for Youths and Social Development, the Special Adviser on Works and Infrastructure and the Permanent Secretary, the Cabinet office.
“The four of them will very quickly, look through and bring forward a White Paper within the next two weeks that will be considered at the Lagos State Executive Council and would be gazetted as a White Paper coming from the panel of enquiry,” the governor said.
He assured that all the recommendations in the submitted reports would be treated, expressing hope that the state government’s decision on the reports would bring healing, reconciliation and restitution.
“We will ensure that the recommendations that are coming out, that will be turned into a White Paper will be made available to the public. We will do it appropriately so that history will judge us well and we will have a document that will stand the test of time, that’s what the Tribunal law says so that it will be properly documented and gazetted in government’s records,” Sanwo-Olu said.
• Only 14 of 235 petitions received were about Lekki shooting ― Chairman
Chairman of the panel, Justice Okuwobi, earlier in his speech, expressed deep appreciation to the Lagos State government and all the stakeholders who appeared before the panel and the team for uncommon resolve and good teamwork.
Justice Okuwobi said 235 petitions were received with only 14 of them being on the alleged Lekki shooting incident, disclosing that the panel awarded a total of N410 million to 70 victims of police brutality.
“As much as the panel desired to have taken all petitions, the ones that were not taken by the panel were those that did not comply with our rules. So in this report, we made recommendations for a body to take over human rights abuse cases in Lagos State,” she said.
The two-volume reports were presented to Governor Sanwo-Olu at the Lagos House, Ikeja on Monday by the Chairman of the panel, Okuwobi (rtd.), who disclosed that part of their recommendations include the establishment of a body to take over human rights abuses in Lagos based on the fact that the panel could not hear over 40 petitions submitted to it.
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