By Adeola Atanda
Babajide Sanwo-Olu, governor of Lagos State, has apologized to protesters over their harassment by some police officers of the Area ‘C’ Command in Lagos State. In his tweets on Thursday, the governor said he is “very sorry about this experience (the harassment)”.
He further said three officers identified in viral video harassing two protesters have been “apprehended” and would be prosecuted.
Sanwo-Olu identified the affected officers as Inspector Bagou Michael, Inspectpr Ekpoudom Etop, Sergeant Nnamdi Majura and Sergeant Akinyemi Benson. “They are facing an orderly room trial immediately”, the governor said.
Equally, the Lagos State Government has denied it had a hand in the attack on protesters at Alausa, the state’s seat of government. Some roughnecks in yellow-coated commercial buses had attacked protesters and passengers of state-owned mass transit bus. Many protesters had alleged the state government sponsored the thugs to harass protesters, but the governor claimed otherwise.
The governor asserted “the Lagos Bus Rapid Transit, (BRT) bus was a victim of the thugs” and did not convey them to the protest grounds, as alleged.
Meanwhile, the governor has announced the constitution of a judicial panel of inquiry to hear cases of human rights violations against citizens in Lagos State.
Members of the panel include former Deputy Inspector General Police Taiwo Lakanu (retd), human rights lawyer Ebun Adeboruwa, Justice Okwuobi, and #EndSars campaigner Segun Awosanya. “We are also immediately setting up a trust fund to compensate the families of (who suffered) police brutality in Lagos even though no amount of money can reduce the pain,” he stated on his twitter handle.