Oyo judicial panel takes petitioner to hospital for immediate treatment

Add as a preferred source

The Oyo State Judicial Panel of inquiry set up to look into cases of police brutalities by the disbanded Special Anti-Robbery Squad (SARS) and other units of the police against Nigerians, on Tuesday, made arrangements for immediate treatment and free surgical procedure for one of the people that filed a petition of police brutality before the panel.

The 11-member panel headed by the retired Chief Judge of Oyo State, Justice Bolajoko Adeniji, made the arrangements for an ambulance to go to the residence of a petitioner, Sesan Opadotun in Ojoo area and transport him to the General Hospital at Ring Road where arrangements for his treatment had already been made.

The panel took the step when the representative of the family, Oluwaseun Olorode informed the court that the petitioner couldn’t appear before the panel because his condition was terrible and they do not even know if he will survive the day.

Olorode told the panel that “I am representing Sesan Opadotun, the petitioner because he is in a dire situation. we do not know if he will survive the day because, since the incident with the police, he had not been healthy. As a family, we have spent all we had and his siblings have become bankrupt because of his situation.

“His aged mother that used to come with me couldn’t come because she has started working as a housemaid somewhere to get money to take care of him and his wife and children who stay with him since we cannot afford hospital bills or medication again.

ALSO READ: 2020 wet season harvest: CBN showcases rice pyramid in Kebbi

“We used to take him to UCH but we do not have the financial capacity to do anything that we are asked to do to fight for his health,” he said.

The panel moved by the pathetic situation opadotun was made immediate arrangements to get him medical attention and adjourned the matter till March 24, 2021, for hearing.

Opadotun had filed a petition of police brutality against the Commissioner of Police in Oyo state in a matter delineated OYJPPB/019.

Also the matter of Kehinde Omotosho, the trader that died in police custody while being held alongside his relative, Jelili, as placeholders for a target suspect against the Nigeria Police CID, Ibadan was adjourned till March 23, 2021.

The case was scheduled for a definite hearing and the Omotosho family and their counsel, Afe Babalola Chambers represented by Barrister Toyese Owoade were in court but the counsel had to seek an extension on the ground that the police just served their response on him when he got to the hearing on Tuesday morning.

Omotosho’s case delineated when OYJPPB/056 was predicated on allegations of unlawful arrest which runs at variance with the law, hitting Omotosho on the head with the butt of the gun, and incarcerating him for days without food or trial till he died in custody leaving dependants, including a 95-year-old mother.

NIGERIAN TRIBUNE