Victims of police brutality in Abia State have pleaded with President Bola Tinubu and the State Governor, Alex Otti, over payment of their compensation as have been done by other states of the federation.
Several civilians were brutalized by the police and many extra-judicially killed, sparking Endsars protests across the county .At the wake of the protests, the Federal Government directed states governments to set up panels of inquiry into the crises.
The immediate past administration of Okezie Ikpeazu set up a 17-man panel headed by Justice Sunday Imo (retd) as chairman while Mrs. Uche Ikonne serve as it Secretary.
Addressing a press conference in Umuahia, on Saturday, the coordinator of the group in the state, Dr. Osita Nwabuko expressed concerns that the governor has yet to respond to their plights despite series of correspondences to him
He said, âThis police brutality issue came up after the end of 2020 ENDSARS protest in the country. So, after the year 2020, the Federal Government directed all the states in the federation to set up a panel of inquiry to investigate and recommend adequate compensation to victims of police brutality.
âOur worry is that our matter, especially the Abia State victims of police brutality has not been sent to the governor, or the governor has not heard about our matterâ.
âSince the panel that was inaugurated by the state government in the year 2020 did their trial, it received 86 petitions from Abia State victims. And after the 86 petitions that were received, the panel deliberated on 46 that has good merit.
âAnd after the deliberation and trial, they recommended to the state government to pay the victims up to the sum of N511m. And since then, the government has not done anything towards that. So, that was why during the 2022-2023 campaign, we, the victims of police brutality in Abia state, we used our forum to be like a structure.
âWe campaigned for Governor Otti, we did everything and we prayed, and God answered our prayers and made him succeed. So, when he became the governor, we were all happy that God has answered our prayers. To our greatest surprise, since he entered, we have done every effort to see him.
âWe have written series of letters to the state government, to the state Attorney General, to the Chief of Staff to the governor, and to the Chief Security Officer. We have even written to Her Excellency, the wife of the executive Governor. Then we have written personal letters to the governor himself, but all with no responseâ.
âAnd we believe that if the governor sees or receives any of our letters, he will do something, being who he is. He, being a compassionate and reasonable and an economist for that matter, would know that these victims have been traumatized as a result of this brutality from police. Many of us are sick, many of our loved ones are still in the mortuary. Most of us are dead, we live in penury. So, we are going through a lot. Otti should help us to alleviate our sufferingâ.
He added,âBecause we suffered so much in the hands of the police, that makes us feel bad because, we have been psychologically, emotionally, and spiritually traumatized, even financially, we are traumatized.
So, we are using this medium to appeal to the governor. Not that we are fighting him, but we want to appeal that he will listen to us and show us mercy. Because justice delayed, is justice denied.
âMany states, including Lagos State have paid, the Federal Capital Territory, Abuja has paid. Others include Rivers State, Lagos, Ekiti, Ogun, Osun and Enugu States. So, when the government gave this directive, many of the states that set up their panel of inquiry, they all paid. Only very few. Even those few that have not paid, like Anambra State, is about to pay.
âSo, we know that if our governor receives our appeal, he will be compassionate enough to pay us because the recommendation from the panel has been accepted by the immediate past governor. So, all we need is for him to give the final approval to the Attorney General to pay us.
âOut of the 86 petitions that were received, it was only 46 that were merited.And it is on these 46 that the panel did their recommendations and approved the sum of N511 million for the 46 victims.
ââThe National Assembly is also aware of the sufferings. The pains and the trauma that these victims are sufferingâ,he said.
