Civil society organisations have urged the governors in the Southeast to implement the panel report ahead of the second anniversary of the #EndSARS campaign.
The groups expressed concern that more than eight months after the judicial panel on police brutality’s report was delivered to the governors, it has still not been put into practice.
Mr. Vincent Ezekwueme, Secretary of the Civil Liberties Organisation, told journalists in Awka on Sunday that only the implementation of the report will alleviate the region’s current insecurity and tension.
Ezekwueme, who served on the Anambra #EndSARS panel, recalled that the Anambra report was given to former governor Willie Obiano on March 15, 2022.
He said Nigerians and the global community are inquisitive and eager to know how the petitioners will be compensated.
He said, “Anambra State received the highest petitions of 310, which is the highest in the country. For justice to be seen to have been done, victims of police brutality should be adequately compensated in line with the N699,000,000 recommended by the penal
The Justice Veronica Ngozi Umeh-led panel presented a thorough, articulate and conscientious report that, if judiciously implemented, will assuage the agony, pains and sufferings of the victims, petitions and their families. Notably, if the petitioners are not compensated, the aim of the government in establishing the SARS end-SARS penal will be defeated.
“Governor Chukwuma Soludo should urgently do the needful as we mark two years of horrendous incidents that led to the deaths of many youths.” Their sacrifices shall never be in vain, hence the ineluctable and inexorable need to vote for credible leaders in the 2023 general election.”
Also, the Anambra State Civil Society Network, led by Comrade Chris Azor, said that instead of implementing the recommendations, the government set up what it called the Truth, Justice, and Peace Commission.
Therefore, Azor, who was a member of the #EndSARS Panel, urged Soludo to act upon the Judicial Panel of inquiry report submitted in March 2022.
“The state government, in its effort to address security challenges in the state, should, as a first step, act on the report to ameliorate the various injuries suffered by victims and their families.”
“This should be fundamental towards achieving the desired peace and security in the state and indeed the Southeast region,” Azor added.