Lagos #EndSARS panel suspends sitting indefinitely

The Lagos state judicial panel on police brutality has suspended its sitting until further notice.

Doris Okwuobi, the retired judge heading the panel, made the announcement on Saturday.

Okwuobi said the panel is expected to work on two reports before the expiration of its tenure — but little progress has been made on them.

The chairperson appealed to petitioners and counsels to bear with the panel, adding that notice of hearings will be sent out for petitions that have not been concluded.

“There are two reports that we are expected to work on, we are not close enough to any of them, we cannot continue with the sitting and end up the assignment without concluding. So we will not be sitting from today,” Okwuobi said.

“But as soon as we find ourselves in a comfortable position, we will send hearing notices to cases that are being listed.

“Please bear with us. We can’t do otherwise. We can’t speculate on any further extension so we have to work towards concluding the assignment as early as we can.

“This is without prejudice to us coming back to concluding some of the part-heard matters. Date will be communicated to petitioners who had their petitions pending when we will only sit over decisions and hand over cheques to those petitioners.”

The panel is expected to conclude sitting on October 19. The Lagos state government had twice extended the duration of the panel.

In August, Vice-President Yemi Osinbajo-led national economic council (NEC) said only the Lagos judicial panel was yet to submit its report to the council.