The Civil Liberties Organization in Anambra State has called on Governor Charles Soludo to implement without further delay, the recommendations of Hon.Justice Veronica Ngozi Umeh-led Judicial Panel on Police Brutality and Other Related Matters on the 2020 ENDSARS protest victims in the state.
Recall that following the ENDSARS protests, then President Muhammadu Buhari directed all the state governors to establish a Judicial Panel to identify victims of police brutality with the aim of compensating them to assuage their sufferings, agony and losses.
The immediate past Governor Willie Obiano in tandem with the President’s directive, established the Anambra State Judicial Panel with Justice Veronica Umeh as Chairperson. Alongside other notable members.
The panel received a total of 310 petitions, the highest in the country, after which it submitted its recommendations to the former Governor, Obiano.
In its report, the panel recommended the payment of the sum of #699,000,000 as compensation to victims of Police Brutality in the State.
Speaking with newsmen on the fourth anniversary of the protest, the Chairman of the CLO in Anambra State, Comrade Vincent Ezekwueme said it is unfortunate and despicable that nearly three years after the submission of the Panel Report, Anambra State was yet to pay compensation to the victims.
According to him, this simply lends credence to the assertion of some schools of thought that the panel was constituted merely to douse political tension precipitated by the EndSARS protest.
Ezekwueme called on Governor Soludo to redeem the image of the State and the Panelists by paying adequate compensation to victims of Police Brutality or their families in the interest of justice, equity, good conscience, and morality.
“It is of great relevance to state that some of the victims and their legal representatives have decried the nonchallant attitude of the state government in that regard, as all the states of the Federation have paid compensations to their petitioners except Anambra State.
“It is no exaggeration but the existential reality that most of the victims and their families are suffering unprecedently because some lost their breadwinners, some incapacitated, while others lost their businesses, whereas some are still owing their legal representatives, hence, the need for the deserved urgent and immediate assistance.
“Justice could only be served when the unaffected are as outraged as those affected and that is why everyone must lend their voices to this call,” CLO reiterated.
