The National Human Rights Commission (NHRC), on Thursday rendered public apologies to 27 Nigerians whose rights were unjustly violated by Nigerian government through its law enforcement agencies.
Beside the public apologies, the Commission presented a total sum of N146m to the 27 victims of rights abuses as their compensation for the wrong melt out to them by Nigeria Police and security agencies.
The victims include one Miss Favour Ajibo a 12 years old girl who and her mother received N5m compensation. She was shut by Police at Wuse District of Abuja the Federal Capital in 2019 in an incident the Police claimed was an accidental discharged.
The beneficiaries also includes the families of the infamous six Apo Mechanic killing whose compensations the Executive Secretary of National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) Tony Ojukwu (SAN) explained was for their burial expenses.
The awards that were presented to the 27 rights abuse beneficiaries arose from the decision of the Independent Investigation Panel on Human Rights Violations by the defunct Special Anti-Robbery Squad (SARS ) and other units of the Nigerian Police Force which began sitting in October 2020.
The Chairman of the 11-Member Panel and a retired Justice of the Supreme Court, Justice Suleiman Galadima said that “the Nigerian society is sorry for the wrongs done to the victims”. He said the amount would not adequately compensate for their lost, tortures, humiliation and deprivation that they went through.
He said that what happened to the victims confirmed that the victims and their families deserved the apologies and ” we are sorry for what happened”.
The secretary of the panel Mr.Hilary Ogbonna explained later that the decision to compensate the victims arose from 20 petitions . According to him , the panel had approved 45 others victims compensations but the commission had no fund to pay .
The panel had also “170 other petitions hanging” but it adjourned indefinitely on Thursday due lack of fund.