#EndSARS: Two police brutality victims receive N11m compensation

Etim Effiong

Two victims of police brutality during #EndSARS protests have received cheques of N11m compensation from the Lagos State Judicial Panel on Restitution.

The chairman of the panel, Justice Doris Okuwobi, handed over the cheque to Bolanle Amudalat Kareem and her lawyer, Aderemi Aka on Saturday, May 15, 2021.

With the new compensations, the panel has now given out a total of N68.25 million to 12 petitioners.

In the petition of late Rasheed Olanrewaju Kareem, his widow was awarded the sum of N10m for the extra judicial killing.

The brother of the deceased, Olalekan Bankole, who testified on February 16, had stated that the deceased was shot in the head by police officers from the Area ‘C’ Command in Surulere.

The incident was said to have occurred on October 21, 2020 during the #EndSARS protests.

The panel found that the police authorities failed to investigate the unjustified shooting of unarmed persons at the Tejuosho and Aralile areas of Surulere in Lagos, as well as the extrajudicial killing of the deceased and other persons.

The Chairman of the panel, Justice Doris Okuwobi recommended that “the Nigeria Police Force carries out an independent investigation into the sporadic and deliberate shooting, in order to confirm who carried out the shooting” and prosecute them accordingly.

In the petition of Yinka Austin Adebayo, the panel awarded him the sum of N1 million naira as compensation for the unlawful arrest, brutality and torture meted on him by police operatives between September 28 and 30, 2017.

In reaching its decision, the panel found that on the totality of evidence adduced by the petitioner, the Petitioner’s evidence was undefended, strong and uncontroverted by the Police.

It was also corroborated by the evidence of the second witness as proof that Mr Austin’s rights were infringed upon unjustifiably, having being cleared by the DPO of the Ojo Police Command in Lagos of committing any crime, yet he was still transferred to the SARS unit at Ikeja.

The panel frowned at the illegal confiscation of his car and further held that he was entitled to compensation in the sum of N1m for the violation of his personal liberty and degrading treatment meted to him