Delta state governor, Senator Ifeanyi Okowa says the EndSARS movement opened a new chapter in the history of Nigeria as it exposed the silent pains the average Nigerian passed through.
Governor Okowa who made this remark when he received a report from Honourable Justice Celestina Ogisi (rtd) led judicial panel of enquiry into complaints of police brutality and related extrajudicial killings in delta state said he was eager to receive the report as it will give him ample opportunity to feel in real terms the extent the people suffered in the hands of security agencies before setting up the human rights complaint team.
Governor Okowa received the report and expressed his satisfaction with the manner Deltans came out to lay their complaints before the committee due to many of them were in pain from injuries and the loss of their loved ones.
The governor who observes the difficult terrain the country’s policemen work in believed that should not be an excuse to abuse their office by subverting the constitutional process and procedures in handling issues.
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The governor promised that the state executive will urgently look into the recommendations of the panel to ensure that justice will be done
Justice Ogisi explained that the panel received 86 petitions, 49 were heard on merit, 37 were struck out for reasons of jurisdiction, withdrawal of petition by petitioners while the panel also received 10 petitions which sought the enforcement of judgments of various high courts of the state against the police for brutality or extrajudicial killings.
Part of the panel’s recommendations include a sensitization exercise to educate its citizens on their rights, what they should do when it is trampled on, and setting up human rights public complaint team charged with receiving complaints about activities of the police on a daily basis.
(Editor: Paul Akhagbemhe)
