It is exactly six months since soldiers opened fire at EndSARS protesters at the Lekki Tollgate in Lagos, which turned the tide of the EndSARS protest in October last year.
The incident on October 20, 2020, turned the peaceful EndSARS protests to massive violence, which spread from Lagos to other parts of the country.
Hoodlums took advantage of the lawlessness to loot shops and government warehouses, with several government and private property burned down.
Soldiers and police personnel were sent out on the streets of Lagos and other major cities and town to arrest the situation.
By the time normalcy was restored, Lagos State alone was counting losses in excess of one trillion naira.
The Federal Government and the various state government responded by setting up judicial panels of inquiry into the demands by the EndSARS protesters.
Here in Lagos; the Judicial Panel on Restitution for Victims of Police Brutality and Other Matters began sitting on October 26, and has received two hundred and thirty-five petitions.
Of all the petitions; only fourteen of the cases are directly related the Lekki Tollgate Shooting on October 20, 2020.
After sitting for sixty-five days, as at April 8, the Panel had heard one hundred and twelve cases; concluded twelve, struck out nine, while four were withdrawn.
The Panel also paid out compensation of forty-three point-seven-five million naira in seven concluded cases, while one hundred and twenty-three cases have not been heard.
The Lagos State Panel originally had a mandate to sit for six months, which should have ended yesterday, before it was extended by three months, allowing it to sit until July 19.
- LAGOSIANS NOT IMPRESSED WITH AFTERMATH OF #ENDSARS
Meanwhile; some Residents of Lagos State have said that nothing has changed since after the EndSARS protests of last year.
Some members of the public who spoke with Lasgidi FM’s Chukwuemeka Obioma, said there have not seen any improvement in the manner the police relate with citizens.
The respondents observed that the police are still engaging in extortion, illegal arrest, and harassment, even though they are aware that such acts can easily be recorded.
Also speaking; a Lagos-based lawyer, Malcolm Omirhobo, has expressed dissatisfaction with the level of work so far done by the Lagos State SARS Panel.
Malcolm Omirhobo said the reason is because the Panel was not properly constituted in the first place, since Lagos State is a party in the Lekki EndSARS shooting.
However; Malcolm Omirhobo acknowledged that some of the cases decided by the Lagos State SARS Panel are not as important as the Lekki Tollgate shooting.