Hold Our Law Enforcement Agencies To The Highest Standards of Conduct To Avoid Future #EndSARS Protest
Maryam Aminu
After dedicated tracking of panel statuses for 3 years, Enough is Enough (EiE) launched report on the progress of the 29 states End SARS judicial panels
The Federal Government in November 2020 set up a panel to investigate the allegations of rights violations by operatives of the defunct Special Anti-Robbery Squad (SARS) and other police units.
Panels were established in 29 states and Abuja.
In his address at the event, the Executive Secretary, National Human Right Commission, Tony Ojukwu, commended EIE on its efforts at coming up with a review of the #ENDSARS protest and report.
” I deeply appreciate Enough is Enough Nigeria’s unwavering commitment to ensuring justice for victims of police brutality. The launch of this report is a testament to that dedication.” Said Anthony Ojukwu
He stated this at the #EndSARS judicial panels review Report launch held Tuesday 31st October, 2023 in Abuja.
“Today, EIE has taken a giant step towards compiling this report. The effort gears towards police reforms and I urge the states who have not submitted their reports to do so.” Ojukwu
“ 16 states have submitted their reports and when the remaining states do same the Commission will do the comprehensive review and report.”
The Executive Secretary tasked all states to prioritise all issues of rights violations and pay compensation to residents affected by the protest
“We will be urging the states not to say that because these panels were directed to be set up by the federal government, it therefore, becomes the sole responsibility of the federal government to deal with issues arising from these panels.
“The first issue to be noted here is that these police officers were serving in various states, the citizens whose rights were violated are indigenes of various states, so there is no reason why the states where these violations took place should not at least pay compensation to their citizens as required by the constitution.
He called on individuals, civil society organisations, and various state governors to ensure police are accountable to avoid another #ENDSARS protest.
“In the pursuit of a just and fair society, it is imperative that we hold our law enforcement agencies to the highest standards of conduct and as a matter of urgency, state governments should set up Human Rights Committees that will deal with matters of human rights violations to curtain occurrences that will trigger another #ENDSARS protest that will lead to human rights violations in future,” he said.
Speaking on the way forward, the Attorney General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Lateef Fagbemi, stated said the government has put in place an existing framework that will protect the rights of citizens.
Fagbemi, represented by the Secretary of the Federal Justice Sector Reform Coordinating Committee, Felix Ota-Okojie, called on all stakeholders to get involved in the implementation of the legal framework and extant laws of the country that protect the rights of citizens
Earlier speaking, Ibrahim Farouk, programme coordinator at Yiaga Africa, said the organisation deployed observers to all 29 states to monitor proceedings at the panels.
Farouk said many challenges, including financial, technical and resource constraints were discovered to have marred the panel session in many states.
He said it is important for all 29 panels to publish the reports of their findings for the public, adding that Nigerians need to know if justice was done.
In her closing statement, the Executive Director, Yemi Adamolekun underscores the fundamental truth: “Peace cannot exist without justice. Three years have passed since the protests, yet the victims continue to demand justice. It’s imperative that justice prevails
Adamolekun expressed immense gratitude to their partners, YIAGA, NhrcNigeria, citizen_gavel, and sbmintelligence, for their crucial contributions in making the event a success.
