Following our #EndSars protests all over Nigeria and beyond, many State Governors set up Judicial Panels of Inquiry into Sars and Police Brutality.

Many people felt weak and asked “What next?”. I will try to offer an opinion, a legal opinion and the way forward

#Thread

A Judicial panel of Inquiry is quasi-Judicial body set up by either the President or the Governor of a State, pursuant to the relevant enabling law, with clearly defined terms of reference. For the purposes of this thread, I will make reference to the law for Enugu State

The executive powers of each State rests with the Governor of the State who exercises such powers towards execution and maintenance of the Constitution and all laws made by the State House of Assembly. See Section 5(2) (a) and (b) of the Nigerian Constitution.

One of such laws made by Enugu State House of Assembly is the COMMISSION OF INQUIRY LAW, Cap 24, Revised Laws of Enugu State 2004. Note that all the States in Nigeria have a similar law in operation. Permit me to use the one for Enugu in this thread.

Section 4(1) of the Law provides that the Governor may, whenever he deems fit, appoint one or more persons to hold a Commission of Inquiry into the conduct of any officer in the public service of the state or any public institution WHERE IT WILL SERVE PUBLIC WELFARE.

It is pursuant to these powers that most Governors have now set up Judicial panels on #EndSars and Police Brutality. We will go through the law to understand the extent of the powers of the panel, and the role of the general public, if any

The powers of a Judicial Panel of Inquiry are clearly stated in Section 9 of the law. Allow me share a screen shot as it will make this thread unnecessarily long if I write them all out.

From the screenshot of the powers of a Judicial panel, you will notice that (a) gives the panel powers to receive evidence either orally or in writing, and to EXAMINE all such witnesses.

This power is very key! It means that a Judicial panel can listen to witnesses and also ask those witnesses questions. This is important because in regular courts in Nigeria, the Judges don’t ask questions. Rather it is your adversary that does the questioning.

The system used in courts is called Adversarial method, where you have “adversaries” or opponents whose assignment is to defeat you and make sure you lose. For a Judicial panel, the method is different.

A Judicial panel uses the Inquisitorial method as opposed to the adversarial method. Here, the Panel is on an Inquiry to discover the truth. The panel has the powers to probe and ask questions that are aimed at uncovering hidden truths.

Notice that whereas in Adversarial method, the Judge is an umpire who must not descend into the arena of conflict. But in Inquisitorial method, the “judges” or panelist can and should descend into the arena. They must discover the truth!

Moving on, from Paragraph (c) and (d), you will notice that a Judicial Panel has the powers to summon any person to appear before it if the panel is of the view that the evidence of such a person will help uncover the truth.

It follows that since most of the Heads of SARS units are alleged “participes criminis” to the subject matter of the Judicial Panels just set up, they must be summoned to appear, even if they don’t want to. Their appearance is indispensable!

It is rather baffling that the fine to be imposed as punishment in case a person fails to appear is a sum not exceeding ten naira. Ten naira! Ten naira can hardly buy the cheapest street candy . But that’s another discuss. The point is, the panel can compel attendance

I have pointed out earlier that the work of the Panel is a Judicial one. Members of the panel ordinarily should be people that are sound, who can receive evidence, comprehend, analyze the evidence, attach value to them, and ask necessary probing questions to uncover the truth.

At the end of the day, the panel is supposed to reach conclusions based on the evidence elicited during the inquiry, and then make recommendations to the Government. The Report of the Panel is gazetted as an official government white paper

Now let me hit the head on the nail as per the purpose of this thread.

Every Judicial Panel MUST rely on facts placed before it in reaching conclusions. Without these pieces of evidence, their conclusion will not give us satisfaction.

I suggest that people come together to assist the various Judicial panels all across Nigeria with the relevant material facts needed to do their job. The #EndSars protests are strong indications that Police brutality is common and wide spread

Many people have been victims of SARS and the police at various times. The next step in this struggle to #EndPoliceBrutality is to come forward and testify before the panel and make out your case. If you don’t make a case before the panel, there will be consequences

It is a general principle of law that when you assert the existence of certain state of affairs, you have the burden to prove it. We have alleged Sars and police brutality. It is time to prove them. If we don’t, the panel will not manufacture evidence for us.

When we fail to come forward, and the panel finds against us, we will cry foul and allege foul play. But if we overwhelm the panel with cases of police brutality with credible evidence, the desired result can be achieved.

That said, a group of people consisting of Lawyers, Writers, Clinical Psychologist, Social Media experts and concerned young people who believe in the #EndSars struggle have created a platform called The People’s Panel @Enugupanel_

This “Panel” will provide free technical assistance to victims of police brutality by helping them prepare their story so they can tell it credibly. They are offering to write your Memo to the panel and also provide free legal representation at the panel.

For victims who have undergone torture or trauma, they have an experienced Clinical Psychologist to talk with you and help you professionally. The purpose is to bring out the true state of facts, so that at the end of the day, the people win!