#EndSARS: Oyo panel submits report to Makinde

 Oyo state #EndSARS panel which was set up by the state government to look into allegations of police brutality has submitted its report to Governor Seyi Makinde .

The panel, led by a former Chief Judge of the state, Badejoko Adeniji, submitted the report to Seyi Makinde on Wednesday.

The Governor received the report on behalf of the state government, and also assured that the panel’s efforts will not be in vain.

He added that his government will soon implement some of the recommendations included in the report.

Makinde while speaking further, explained that the state will provide automatic scholarship to 23-year-old Samuel Ogundeji.

Ogundeji, a 23-year-old man, was falsely accused of stealing a banker’s wallet and brutalised by SARS operatives, resulting in blindness.

The governor in his statement said “The first step towards solving a problem is to identify that problem, and there is no way you will identify or get to the roots of any situation if we don’t talk about them, ask people to come forward and tell us.

“So, that is exactly what we have done in Oyo State by instituting this Panel of Enquiry.

“Before now, things got swept under the carpet, but people have been able to come forward, they have put facts on the table and it is now left for us to take proper steps out of it and react appropriately.

“A lot of people kept sending messages to me about when the Panel of Enquiry will send their report and I said, for us in Oyo State, we don’t just want to rush to do things. We want to be thorough and ensure that when we say a problem is solved, it is solved,” he said.

“We thank you for your time because this took us more than a year. You have also shown dedication and commitment to our state and country and I want to thank you very much.”

Recall that #EndSARS protest was was staged by angry Nigerians in major cities across the country in October 2020, in order to kick against incidents of police brutality, victimization of residents, unlawful arrests and detention of innocent citizens by some policemen, particularly men of the now-defunct Special Anti-Robbery Squad (SARS).