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A man has testified in a judicial investigation in the commercial center of Lagos, Nigeria, that police officers from the now-disbanded Special Anti-Theft Squad (Sars) tortured him and extracted two teeth after arresting him in 2014.
He was the first person to testify in front of a panel that has been created to investigate human rights abuses perpetrated by Sars.
The alleged atrocities sparked mass protests in Nigeria under the hashtag #EndSars, forcing President Muhammadu Buhari to disband the hated unit.
Lagos State Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu has said that the scope of the panel has been expanded to include the shooting at the Lekki tollbooth on October 20.
Amnesty International and eyewitnesses say the military opened fire on peaceful protesters at the toll gate, killing at least 10 people. Two people died in another part of Lagos on the same day, Amnesty said.
The army has denied its involvement in the shooting.
In his testimony, the man said that his property had been forcibly taken by Sars officers and that the police had refused to pay him compensation despite a court order.
Tuesday’s proceedings were delayed for nearly two hours because youth representatives on the panel refused to sign an oath of secrecy. The dispute was later resolved.
Independent investigations into police abuses were a central demand of protesters who demonstrated in Nigeria for more than two weeks.
The chair of the panel, Judge Doris Okuwobi, was quoted by the Reuters news agency as saying that the panel was independent from the government and would guarantee justice for victims of police brutality and “for those affected by the unfortunate incident of gunfire. military “. ”.
She was also quoted as saying that none of the 15 complaints received so far were related to the shooting in Lekki, an upscale suburb in Lagos.
Source: BBC
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