JUST IN: Lagos #EndSARS Panel Extended By Three Months — Sanwo-Olu
The Lagos judicial panel on police brutality has been extended by three months by Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu.
According to sources aware with the governor’s decision, it was made Friday afternoon after the governor received complaints that the panel needed more time to finish current cases. According to The Gazette, just around 40% of cases have been resolved as of this month, and restitution for granted compensations has yet to be completed.
Some victim lawyers on the panel, however, criticized the move, telling The Gazette that it was an attempt by the government to buy more time so that it could manipulate some of the panel’s most important cases.
The governor denied trying to purchase time to sway the panel’s unfavorable decisions, claiming that his decision to extend originated primarily from the desire to remedy as many cases of injustice as possible.
The governor also committed to release additional funds to pay out compensations that had been approved but were still pending.
Sources acquainted with the decision told The Gazette on Friday that the additional releases will be substantially more than the N200 million already released by the Sanwo-Olu government.
Following the historic #EndSARS campaign against decades of police violence and corruption, the panel was raised in November.
The panel was supposed to wrap up its work this month, but its members have agreed to stay until the end of October 2021.
