Some youths in Ogun State have called on Governor Dapo Abiodun to make public the report of the state Judicial Panel of Investigation on Police Brutality, Human Rights Violations and Extra-Judicial Killings, five years after it was submitted to the government.
The Ogun Youth Assembly, in a letter addressed to the governor, said publishing the document would clarify what had happened to the panel’s recommendations and provide the public with an account of measures taken since the inquiry ended.
The group’s Chairman, Habeeb Whyte, said the report was formally presented to Abiodun on July 9, 2021 after the nationwide #EndSARS protests that prompted the state government to constitute the panel.
The inquiry, chaired by retired Justice Solomon Olugbemi, examined petitions alleging police brutality, violations of human rights and extra-judicial killings. Citizens appeared before the panel, submitted petitions and gave evidence during the proceedings.
Whyte, who served as Legal Adviser to the state Police Community Relations Committee at the time, said the panel received 106 petitions and considered 58 of them.
He said the 289-page report contained several recommendations, including the payment of N218m in compensation to 42 victims or their families.
The youth leader questioned the absence of publicly available information on the implementation of those recommendations since the document reached the state government.
“The central question is straightforward: where is the report, and what has happened to its recommendations?” Whyte asked.
He said uncertainty over the outcome had left questions surrounding compensation payments, disciplinary action and cases that may have required referral to federal authorities.
Whyte also proposed that the government accompany the report with an implementation matrix detailing each recommendation, the authority responsible for acting on it, steps already taken, outstanding actions and proposed timelines.
Where compensation had been paid, he said, the government should provide records showing the disbursement, while unresolved obligations should be handled in line with the law.
“Publishing the report should not be seen as an attack on the government. It is an opportunity for the administration to demonstrate confidence in its own processes and strengthen public trust,” he said.
The call comes six years after the 2020 #EndSARS protests, which spread across several Nigerian cities over allegations of police brutality and demands for police reform. In response, state governments established judicial panels to investigate petitions and recommend remedies for victims.
Ogun was among the states that created such a panel. The inquiry was expected to give affected residents an avenue to present evidence and seek redress through a formal process.
Whyte said the issue still carried significance for young people because the protests represented a major generational demand for dignity, accountability and responsible policing.
He said making the findings accessible would also allow residents to distinguish between recommendations that had been implemented and those that were still pending.
Across the country, the fate of reports produced by the various #EndSARS panels has differed. Some states have published findings and taken steps towards compensation, while rights groups and civil society organisations have continued to press governments in other jurisdictions to disclose their reports and act on recommendations.
The Ogun youths are therefore seeking not only access to the panel’s findings but also a clear public record of the actions taken since the report was submitted.
That disclosure, they said, would help answer lingering questions from the panel process and show how the state government handled the recommendations arising from allegations that prompted the inquiry in the first place.
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