Oyo State Judicial Panel of Inquiry on Police Brutality has ordered all the owners of the motorcycles and vehicles destroyed or carted away from the offices of State Vehicles Inspection Service during the last year’s #EndSARS protest to appear before the panel with original documents of their vehicles to prove the ownership.

Chairman of the panel,  Emeritus Chief Judge of Oyo State, Justice Badejoko Adeniji gave the order when Management of the Oyo State Vehicles Inspection Service appear before it to defend a petition written to appeal to the state government for help.

At the sitting, owners of the five of the twenty five motorcycles carted away at Monatan office of the service appeared before the panel, with some documents.

However the petition took a new dimension when one of the owners,  Muideen Musiliyu whose motorcycle was yet to be registered told the panel that the officer who seized his motorcycle did not give him fine ticked to prove that his motorcycle was seized.

This prompted the panel to ask the officers of VIO to explain how they got the list they compiled which they explained.

The members of the also asked why owners of the motorcycles form other stations were not at the panel.

Responding to this, Officers in Charge of Idi Ayunre, Mr. Isaiah Aremu told the court panel that some hoodlums trooped in to their office and forcefully took away the motorcycles saying nobody has ever come to ask for anything in their office.

When asked what prompted the petition, Mr.  Aremu said they did that to inform the government the development.

Reacting, the Chairman of the panel, retired Justice Badejoko Adeniji said there was need for the owners of the stolen motorcycles to prove that their property were truly seized.

She said the panel would recommend compensation for only those who could be able to convince them that their property were among those motorcycles carted away.

The petition was adjourned till March 17 for hearing.

Radio Nigeria had earlier reported that 72 motorcycle were carted away from three offices of the VIO in Oyo State during #EndSARS protest.

25 motorcycles vehicles were carted away at Monatan, forty six were carted away at Iseyin while one motorcycle and two tricycles were carted away at Idi Ayunre office of the service by EndSARS protesters.

Sunday Ogunyemi

The Tuesday’s sitting of the Oyo State Panel of Inquiry on Police Brutality almost turned confrontational when a petitioner Ojo Bamidele and the representative of the Nigeria Police engaged in hot arguments on the jurisdiction of the petition.

The Petitioner, who is a former Member of Oyo State House Assembly, representing Ibadan Southwest one state Constituency Honourable Ojo Samson Bamidele had approached the panel to recover his car which he said the Police helped recover from armed robbers.

He explained the he was attacked by armed robbers who shot him and snatched the car in Ibadan in the year 2012, but with the intervention of the Nigeria Police, Iyana Offa, the car was recovered and the suspects were arraigned in Court.

The argument started when the Officer in Charge of Legal Department of Police Oyo State Command, Funke Fawole told the Panel that she could not respond to the petition because the car was in Lagos State.

At a stage the two parties almost resorted to the use of strong words to drive home their points. 

The tension was however doused by the Chairman of the Panel, Emeritus Chief Judge of Oyo State, Justice Badejoko Adeniji who appealed to the parties to be calm. 

Later the O/C Legal who did not deny or confirm the recovery of the car from the robbers suggested that the panel summon the officers in Lagos and also advised that the Legal officer of the Panel put a call through to the phone numbers provided in the petition form. 

Responding, the Panel agreed to invite the officers involved in the case to appear before it on round table and urged Mrs Fawole to also be at the meeting.

The petition was adjourned to March 2, 2021 and the parties later apologized to each other.

Sunday Ogunyemi