The Police Service Commission (PSC) has reassured the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) of its commitment to take disciplinary actions against men and officers of the defunct Special Anti Robbery Squad Unit of the Nigeria police Force (SARS), who were indicted by the Presidential Panel set up to investigate various allegations of gross violations of human rights leading to the nationwide #EndSARS protests in 2020.
The Executive Secretary of the NHRC, Anthony Okechukwu Ojukwu, who disclosed this on Tuesday during the launch of the EndSARS Judicial Review Report held at the headquarters of the NHRC in Abuja, revealed that the Presidential Panel on SARS had recommended to the then Attorney General of the Federal (AGF) and the PSC to prosecute those who were indicted or put up disciplinary actions against them under the purview of the PSC.
Ojukwu reassured victims of Police brutality that the Commission would ensure that they get justice and promised that the Commission would stand against any form of human right violations against them.
He said NHRC in collaboration with a non-governmental organisation, Enough is Enough (EiE), will launch the EndSARS Judicial Panel Review Report to also commemorate the 2020 #EndSARS protest in the country, in which many Nigerians lost their lives.
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The human rights boss lamented that the presidential panel which was set up under the directive of then Acting President, Professor Yemi Osibanjo, and was replicated in 29 states of the federation including the FCT had been met with a lot of challenges ranging from lack of political will on the part of the elite and impunity by some suspected culprits, who use their position to disregard summons by the panels.
While calling on the panels that sat in various states of the federation that have not submitted their reports as well as pay compensations to victims, to act accordingly by submitting their reports, Ojukwu revealed that the panel that sat in Abuja has paid N431,884,094 as compensations to 100 victims of police brutality.
“I am happy to announce that just last week, we got a letter from the Police Service Commission, reassuring the Commission that they are taking steps to make sure that appropriate disciplinary actions are taken against those who have been indicted by the panel for gross human rights violation and abuse of office. Also today (Tuesday), the EiE has taken the giant step to conduct this judicial review and compile the report, which we are going to launch here today. We are also using this activity to commemorate the 2020 EndSARS protest in Nigeria. You recall that on 20th of October, 2020. Unfortunately, the way things work in Nigeria is that people forget and easily move over to other things. As human rights defenders, we are trained to make sure that we keep things on the front burner, we don’t allow things to go just like that, so this is one of the efforts that is being made to keep the EndSARS Protest alive and to make vigilant efforts,” the NHRC boss stated.
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