Survivors of police brutality and extra-judicial killings in Abia State have petitioned Governor Alex Otti over the non-payment of the N511 million compensation approved for them by the Abia State Judicial Panel of Inquiry.
Police brutality had triggered the 2020 #EndSARS nationwide protests, which culminated in the shooting of protesters at the Lekki Toll Gate in Lagos. In response to the public outcry that followed, state governments across the country set up judicial panels to investigate complaints of police abuse and recommend compensation for victims.
In Abia State, the panel chaired by former Chief Judge, Justice Sunday Imo, with former Solicitor General Mrs. Uzo Uche Ikonne as Secretary, submitted its report in July 2021. According to survivors who addressed journalists in Umuahia, the government has yet to release the approved compensation.
The victims said the panel, set up under the administration of former Governor Okezie Ikpeazu, considered over 86 cases, out of which 46 were found to have merit. It subsequently recommended the payment of N511 million in compensation.
In a petition addressed to Governor Otti and the Speaker of the Abia State House of Assembly, the victims pleaded for the immediate release of the funds to alleviate their suffering. The petition, signed by Dr. Osita Nwabuko and Harrison Ikwue, lamented that while several states had already compensated their own victims, Abia had “abandoned” them.
A copy of the petition obtained by Vanguard reads in part:
“In 2020, when Nigerians were brutalised by the police in various parts of the country, the federal government gave a directive to the states to set up panels of inquiry to ascertain the magnitude of abuses and compensate victims.”
Dr. Nwabuko, the group’s coordinator, appealed passionately to Governor Otti, noting that Lagos, the FCT, Osun, Ekiti, and Rivers States had already paid compensation to victims identified by their judicial panels.
He expressed concern that, despite repeated letters and appeals submitted through various government officials, relief had not come. He described the dire situation of some survivors, saying “many of the victims are homeless, ill, or deceased,” and added that some bodies remain in mortuaries because families cannot afford burial expenses.
Describing Governor Otti as their “last hope,” the survivors urged him not to neglect their plight.
“You have been our hope before you came on board as governor, and now that you are on board, you are still our hope,” they appealed.
VANGUARD.
