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Josephine Awomodu

EndSARS- Another Extension Of The Lagos State Judicial Panel Of Inquiry And Restitution: for victims of SARS related abuses and Lekki Toll Gate incidence

The tenure of the Lagos State Judicial Panel Of Inquiry And Restitution: for victims of SARS related abuses and Lekki toll gate incidence, has been extended by three months for the second time.
The chairman of the Panel and retired judge, Justice Doris Okuwobi, announced that the tenure of the Panel will now run until October 19 2021. The tenure was extended by three months as it was initially on April 27.
The Lagos State Judicial Panel Of Inquiry for #EndSARS related issues and Lekki toll gate incidence was established by the governor of Lagos state, Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu on October 27 2020, seven days after the Lekki massacre.
The panel was set up to assent to the Five-For-Five demands of the #EndSARS protesters for a period of six months. Alongside this, the panel was set up to look into abuses of security agencies, most especially the now disbanded SARS unit of the Nigeria police force.
The initial six months granted the panel to hear petitions was insufficient for the panel and subsequently, the panel was given an extension of three months. The initial six-month tenure expired on April 27, while the first 3-month extension was supposed to expire on July 19 but went on until June 29 when this new extension was announced.
In a bid to hear as many as petitions as possible before October 19, the panel says it will begin a prices called, “front-loading”. According to Justice Doris Okuwobi, “It is important that every petition or petitioner be given an equal duty of being heard and to achieve that task we have put in place amendment of front loading of the processes which will be more time-saving in terms of sitting and in terms of working outside the panel, Mrs Okuwobi, a retired judge, said. So, this will now take effect from the 2nd of August. It will determine the listing of fresh petitions which have not been opened.”
“The earlier you comply with the rules by front-loading, …we will then have cause to list fresh matters that can then come up before the panel. It is our appeal that petitioners in particular, who do not understand the process, seek advice on the front-loading. The rules are very clear, just. We want your evidence on the affidavit, evidence of your cases on affidavit.”
“What you have in petition just have to be put in place of an affidavit and sworn to the court, so the evidence of the witnesses. I’m sure petitioners are not going to have any difficulty with complying with the front-loading process. And all documents you want to present to the panel should come in ahead of the hearing of the petition and properly served on the respondents.”
The front-loading process means that the petitioners will state their petitions in writing and the panel will adopt it and begin cross-examination. Front-loading is a deviation from the usual panel session where petitioners orally recount their ordeals in the hands of security operatives before cross-examination from the state lawyers.