End SARS: Oyetola Receives Judicial Panel’s Report

The Osun State Governor, Adegboyega Oyetola, has said his administration is resolved to rid the state of all forms of injustice against and oppression of the weak.

He called on citizens of the state to hold external and internal institutions and other citizens accountable in ways that public conducts and behaviours conform to the ethos of Omoluabi.

Governor Oyetola stated these on Thursday while receiving the report of the Judicial Panel of Inquiry against Police Brutality, Human Rights Violations and Related Extra Judicial Killings, at the Governor’s Office, Abere, Osogbo.

The Governor had constituted the Panel led by a retired Judge of the High Court, Hon. Justice Akinwale Oladimeji, to look into cases of assault, illegal arrest, killings, brutality and other forms of rights abuse by the officers and men of the disbanded Special Anti-Robbery Squad (SARS) of the Nigerian Police.

Oyetola, who appreciated members of the Panel for giving their best to comfort the oppressed and strengthen the weak, assured that the government will implement the recommendations of the Panel in a manner that will ensure that justice is served.

Assuring citizens, Oyetola said: “We have resolved to heal the wounds of those that hurt among us so as to reintegrate them into our fold, get the best out of them and move on as one big, strong family.

“As a people, we reject a culture that reduced our citizens to victims of injustice and democracy they fought hard to enthrone in their fatherland.

“Today, we are determined to work together as a family and take the weakest of the weak by the hand as we walk the lane of sustainable freedom, progress, peace and development. We have instituted structures to ensure justice for all at all times”, Oyetola said.

In his remarks, the Chairman of the Panel, Hon. Justice Akin Oladimeji, said the panel had painstakingly reviewed and addressed the 34 petitions received, out of which 13 were struck out for various reasons, two were dismissed after hearing and recommendation and 21 were processed and contained in the report.

He noted that from the petitions reviewed, it was observed that the men of the Nigerian Police Force had been responsible for a number of problems plaguing the country, adding that there was a need for the government to reappraise structural issues like mode of recruitment of security agents and subjection of appointed officers to psychiatric tests to ascertain their fitness.

He, however, expressed optimism that a thorough and faithful implementation of the report will help in resolving a number of the challenges facing security architecture in the country and Osun in particular.

He added that implementation of the report will also restore hope of getting justice for infractions or violations of fundamental human rights as guaranteed and enshrined in the Constitution of the Feseral Republic of Nigeria.