Makinde gets Oyo #EndSARS panel report, promises prompt action

•Awards scholarship to 23-year-old victim
Governor Seyi Makinde, yesterday, received the report of the Oyo State Judicial Panel of Inquiry into police brutality and related matters, set up in the aftermath of the nationwide #EndSARS protests in late 2020.

Taking delivery of the document from the panel chairman, Justice Badejoko Adeniji (rtd), in Ibadan, Makinde pledged that the state government would implement some of the recommendations in no time.

A statement by his Chief Press Secretary, Taiwo Adisa, indicated that the governor, in his speech at the event, said the state would provide automatic scholarship to 23-year-old Samuel Ogundeji, who was falsely accused of stealing a banker’s wallet and brutalised by men of the defunct Special Anti-Robbery Squad (SARS), which resulted in blindness.

He said: “The first step towards solving a problem is to identify that problem, and there is no way you will identify or get to the root of any situation if we don’t talk about them, ask people to come forward and tell us. So, that is exactly what we have done in Oyo State by instituting this panel of enquiry.

“Before now, things got swept under the carpet, but people have been able to come forward, they have put facts on the table and it is now left for us to take proper steps out of it and react appropriately.”

Makinde continued: “A lot of people kept sending messages to me about when the panel of enquiry will send their report and I said, for us in Oyo State, we don’t just want to rush to do things. We want to be thorough and ensure that when we say a problem is solved, it is solved.

“We thank you for your time, because this took us more than a year. You have also shown dedication and commitment to our state and country, and I want to thank you very much.”

The governor commended the committee for paying the first semester fee, accommodation, feeding and clothing needs of the young man.

Earlier, Justice Adeniji (rtd) said the panel got 151 petitions, clarifying that 121 of them were heard till finality and adjourned sine die for award of compensations.

She added that 30 petitions were struck out for various reasons, explaining that award of compensations was categorised into five groups.

The jurist said the panel’s reports and recommendations were in two volumes, including “I and IA.”