By Saheed Ibrahim

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As the Judicial Panel of Enquiry on Police Brutality and other matters in Ondo State, concluded hearing on all the 77 petitions received, the panel has hinted that the compilation of its report would begin immediately.
The Chairman of the Panel, Justice Adesola Sidiq (Rtd), after the last sitting on Wednesday said the report would be submitted to Governor Oluwarotimi Akeredolu for further actions.
Justice Sidiq however stressed that it was not within the jurisdiction of the panel to make public their recommendations, saying only the Governor would decide that.
“In the legal circle, there is what we call case management. So, to me, the terms of reference stated that receive, make report and submit report.
“There is nowhere in our terms of reference that says that we should release report to the members of the public”, the Chairman of the panel noted.
Justice Sidiq said the members of the panel needed time to put all the recommendations together, a task he described as tedious.
“Today is our last sitting. After an effort to close sitting last week failed. In all, 77 petitions were presented and few were struck out while all the rest went through trial.
“It is a very tedious job, particularly for some of us, who are to do the other aspect. We are nine panel members. In writing our report, we take largely into consideration the legal aspect before the inputs of others because it is not a one man show. Everybody will be allowed to contribute before we come to the report proper,” he said.
Meanwhile, seven petitions, bordering on vandalisation of property during last year EndSARS protests and police brutality, were heard and closed on the same day.
A car dealer, Oladimeji Olatunbosun alleged that he was brutally tortured and detained by the defunct Special Anti-Robbery Squad, SARS operatives over false allegation of selling a stolen vehicle to a customer, Ojo Mayehun in February 2020.
During cross examination, Olatunbosun, narrated that he was whisked to Ogun state after the police officers took eight of his cars with them and he was unjustly detained for 3 months.
Olatunbosun, through his councel, Ayobami Joshua therefore demanded 100 million naira compensation, saying he had lost the major part of his livelihood to the incident.
Similarly, Mr Owoyemi Abiodun’s petition was on unjust detention by the men of the defunct SARS over a disputed land in 2010.
His wife, who took the witness stand, said she lost her 3months pregnancy while in detention for seven days.
Counsel to the police, Tolu Abisagbo, who also called his witness, ASP Sikiru Lawal, said there were discrepancies in the petition.
While the case filed by Mrs Iwanefun James against the defunct SARS operatives was also heard and closed, that of Sunday Ossai was struct out for lack of diligent prosecution.
On vandalisation of property during the EndSARS protests, the petitions of the People’s Democratic Party, Nigerian Correctional Service and Layo Komolafe were heard and closed for recommendations to the Governor.