Victims of the disbanded Special Anti-Robbery Squad (SARS), a notorious unit of the Nigeria Police linked with numerous cases of rights abuses, will not be able to file petitions before the Lagos State judicial panel investing the matter after December 22.
The panel announced this in a notice to the general public on Saturday night.
“The public is hereby notified that no petition will be received by the Judicial Panel of Inquiry and Restitution after the 22nd of December 2020. Thank you for your compliance,” it said in a tweet on Saturday night.
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The panel had earlier announced December 24, 2020, as the deadline for submission of petitions against former SARS operatives and other police officers accused of extra-judicial killings or rights abuses.
But few hours after, the panel said it would not receive petitions after December 22.
The panel, which was inaugurated on October 19 by Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu, had suspended sitting on November 7 following the withdrawal of two youth representatives from the panel.
The youth representatives – Bolatito Olorunrinu and Temitope Majekodunmi – withdrew from the panel over the alleged freezing of #EndSARS protesters’ bank accounts by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN).
But the panel headed by Justice Dorris Okuwobi (retired) resumed sitting on Saturday, November 14. It said over 100 petitions had been summitted against police officers.