#EndSARS Probe Panel Awards N289m To 74 VictimsTo

The panel probing allegations of human rights violations committed by the defunct Special Anti-Robbery Squad (SARS) and other units of the Nigeria Police has awarded N289 million to 74 victims of gross human rights violations.

At a ceremony on Wednesday held at the National Human Rights Commission headquarters in Abuja, the deceased victims’ families and survivors received dummy cheques as a mark of the awards.

In his speech, the commission’s executive secretary, Anthony Ojukwu (SAN), said that the government has acknowledged its mistakes and is ready to assuage the feelings of victims.

He said, “The ceremony today is to tell you that we have acknowledged the violation of your rights and we are putting this forward in good faith to say we are sorry.

“The amount paid today will not solve all the problems but to ensure that where there is a violation of rights, there must be a remedy.”

The NHRC had in March 2021 set up the federal government’s panel of enquiry on police brutality in Abuja.

The commission also awarded N146 million to 27 families and survivors who were victims of gross rights violations.

The compensations in the judgments, according to the commission, were awarded in cases bordering on extrajudicial killing, unlawful arrest and detention, cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment and torture, alleged enforced disappearance, confiscation of property, among others.