NHRC raises fresh panel to probe SARS atrocities

The panel will hear petitions, complaints and memoranda from the 36 states of the federation and the FCT.

Nimi Princewill • October 17, 2020

#EndSARS protest used to illustrate the story

The National Human Rights Commission has constituted an 11-man panel to look into allegations of human rights violations against officers of the defunct Special Anti-Robbery Squad (SARS).

The panel, chaired by a retired Supreme Court judge Suleiman Galadima, will hear petitions, complaints and memoranda from Nigerians across the 36 states of the federation and the FCT.

It has been empowered to refer cases of human rights violations by SARS officers to the Attorney General of the Federation, or that of a state for prosecution, the commission said in a tweet Saturday.

“All petitions, complaints, and memoranda must reach the Commission, which is the Secretariat of the Panel on or before October 31, 2020”, NHRC Secretary Tony Ojukwu stated.

Members of the panel are: Abdulrahaman Yakubu, Yemi Ademolakun, Chioma Chuka, Ayo Atsenuwa, Tijani Mohammed, Dr. Uju Agomoh, DIG Ibrahim Lamorde, Garba Tetengi (SAN), Feyikemi Abudu, John Aikpokpo Martins and Hilary Ogbonna, who will serve as its secretary.

SARS, a disbanded police unit notorious for extra judicial killings and human rights abuses, was scrapped on October 11 by the country’s police chief Mohammed Adamu.

The dissolution of the infamous squad was fuelled by nationwide protests against the unrestrained notoriety of many of its operatives.

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