23-year-old blinded from EndSARS brutality gets Oyo scholarship

A 23-year-old, Samuel Ogundeji, who was falsely accused of stealing a banker’s wallet and brutalised by men of the defunct Special Anti-Robbery Squad (SARS), which resulted in his blindness has received a scholarship from the Oyo State Government.

Governor Seyi Makinde announced this while receiving the report of the EndSARS panel led by Justice Badejoko Adeniji (retd) at the Governor’s Office in Agodi, Ibadan.

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He assured that the panel’s efforts would not be in vain that the government would soon implement some of the recommendations.

Daily Trust reports that the Justice Adeniji-led panel had paid for the first semester fee, accommodation, feeding and clothing needs of Samuel Ogundeji.

Makinde said, “The essence of all of these is not just to apportion blames but to ensure that when problems are identified, they are solved and also look at the future to ensure that we move away from this kind of thing.

“What we will do as a government is to follow that lead and ensure that the boy is granted an automatic scholarship by the Oyo State Government, which will cover his tuition fees and also stipends throughout his study.”

The governor promised restitution to the families of policemen slain during the crisis, noting that if the panel’s recommendations did not cover that area, the commissioner of police could come up with an addendum.

“Some policemen were killed. These officers were killed at Ojoo and Iseyin. They are Nigerians as well, though they wear uniforms, so restitution has to go to their families. I don’t know if there are recommendations on this, but if there are no recommendations, we need to find a way to do that,” he added.

Earlier, the chairman of the panel said that the panel received 151 petitions of which 121 were heard to finality and adjourned sine die for the award of compensations.

She added that (30) thirty petitions were struck out for various reasons, adding that the award of compensations was categorised into five groups and that the panel recorded some achievements.