BY TIMOTHY AGBOR, OSOGBO
THE Osun State Judicial Panel of Inquiry on Police Brutality, Human Rights Violations and Related Extra Judicial Killings has made adjustments to its sitting days.
The panel, upon its inauguration, had announced that its sitting days were Tuesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays.
But when The Point’s correspondent visited the Council of Obas’ Chamber, Finance Building, Government Secretariat, Abeere, Osogbo, on Tuesday morning, no member of the panel was seen.
When contacted, Mr Ismail AbdulAfiz, a member of the 13-man panel, told our correspondent on the telephone that the panel had readjusted its sitting days.
According to him, the new sitting days are now Thursdays, Fridays and Saturdays.
He said the adjustment was made to suit the personal schedules of the members, adding that most of them needed to attend to their personal means of livelihood.
The panel member noted that the change to the sittings was made during the meeting of the panel members last Saturday.
“For now, we don’t have cases on Tuesdays. Because of our personal schedules, there is a readjustment in our sitting days, which are now Thursdays, Fridays and Saturdays. It is expected that most of us will have personal engagements. You know this is not a permanent appointment,” he said.
“We are supposed to have made a public announcement before now, so I will do a follow-up to that effect. We met on Saturday and changed the days, coupled with the fact that there was no matter adjourned till Tuesday,” AbdulAfiz added.
Recall that the panel, at its last sitting on Saturday, adjourned two of its petitions to Saturday, November 21.
Governor Gboyega Oyetola had on Thursday 22nd of October, 2020, inaugurated a 13-man panel with a mandate to unravel all matters related to police brutality, disbanded officers and men of the Special Anti-Robbery Squad (SARS), among other related cases.
The panel had commenced hearing with five different petitions submitted by victims of police brutality and other human rights violations.
