Ogun #EndSARS panel treats 58 petitions, set to submit report

The Ogun State Judicial Panel of Investigation on Police Brutality, Human Rights Violations and Extra-Judicial Killings sitting at the Magistrate Court 1, Isabo, Abeokuta, yesterday, said it had ended its sittings.

The Panel Chairman, Justice Solomon Olugbemi, who disclosed this in Abeokuta while speaking with journalists at the end of the six months sitting period, said “the panel received a total of 106 petitions, out of which 58 were treated and the remaining 48 were either withdrawn, rejected or abandoned wholly or half-way by the petitioners.”

Justice Olugbemi said some were rejected because the petitions were not in line with the terms of reference that the panel was given by the government.

He assured all petitioners and respondents of justice without fear or favour, as the panel’s report is ready for submission to the government while he revealed that after the submission, it is left for government to implement the report or not.

The panel chairman, who spoke on some of the challenges faced by the panel, said: “Although the panel encountered some logistics challenges but it was able to surmount them.”

It would be recalled that the panel was inaugurated on October 19, 2020 by Governor Dapo Abiodun and was given a six-month period to receive and investigate petitions from members of the public whose human rights have been violated and abused by security personnel within the state and also to make appropriate recommendations to government.