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#EndSARS: Kogi panel receives six petitions on police brutality

The committee was constituted by the Kogi government through the office of the Public Defender and Citizens Rights Commission.

• March 16, 2021
#EndSARS protest used to illustrate the story
#EndSARS protest used to illustrate the story

The Human Rights Special Intervention Group (HRSIG) in Kogi said it received six petitions and complaints on human rights violations by the law enforcement agencies.

The chairman of the committee in Kogi, Ibrahim Alhassan, said this at a public hearing on the #EndSARS protest, complaints and petitions on human rights violations and brutality by law enforcement agencies, held on Tuesday in Lokoja.

The HRSIG committee was constituted by the Kogi government through the office of the Public Defender and Citizens Rights Commission (PDCRC).

Mr. Alhassan noted that the committee had gone round since it was inaugurated to synergise with the media to sensitise the people to submit their petitions on all human rights violations.

He said the committee had received six petitions, which was why the committee called for a public hearing to hear those petitions.

In his remarks, the chairman of the governing council, PDCRC, Muizudeen Abdullahi, said the public hearing was in line with the responsibility of the government to preserve the sanctity of human persons as provided under Section 17(2) (b) of the 1999 Constitution as amended.

He explained that in the wake of the #EndSARS protest in Nigeria, GovernorYahaya Bello directed Kogi PDCRC to constitute HRSIG, to intervene, investigate and rapidly resolve complaints of brutalities by law enforcement agencies in the state.

One of the petitioners, who was represented by Elenimobuno and Associates, told the committee that his house was demolished by the disbanded SARS on March 20, 2017, without the order of the court.

The petitioner said his prayer was for him to be compensated for his house that was illegally demolished by the police in Okehi Local Government Area of Kogi State.

According to Mr. Muizudeen, the Kogi government is among the few states that have established an office such as the PDCRC to provide legal aid and other services to residents of the state.

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