#EndSARS: SERAP sues Buhari, calls for arrest of policemen, soldiers

The Socio-Economic Rights and Accountability Project (SERAP), has filed a lawsuit at the Federal High Court in Abuja, seeking to compel President Muhammadu Buhari to order the immediate arrest and prosecution of soldiers and police officers indicted by the Lagos #EndSARS probe panel report for the shooting of peaceful protesters at the Lekki toll-gate on October 20, 2020.

The lawsuit by SERAP, according to the body, is predicated on the leaked panel report which indicted the Nigerian Army and officers of the Nigeria Police in the shooting of harmless Nigerian youths who were protesting the incessant cases of police brutality in the country.

The suit filed on behalf of SERAP by its lawyers Kolawole Oluwadare and Opeyemi Owolabi read states thus:

“The Buhari administration has the constitutional responsibility to allow victims of human rights violations to find out the truth in regard to acts committed, to know who the perpetrators of such acts are, and to obtain justice and adequate compensation.”

In the suit number FHC/ABJ/CS/1482/2021 which was filed by the advocacy group on Friday, SERAP is also asking the court to “direct and compel President Buhari to bring to justice anyone suspected to be responsible for the shooting of peaceful protesters, and to ensure access to justice and effective remedies for victims, including adequate compensation.”

In the writ of summons, SERAP noted that “it is in the interest of justice to grant this application, as it would improve respect for Nigerians’ rights, the rule of law, and public confidence in government institutions, as well as reduce the growing culture of impunity of perpetrators.”

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The rights group added that “the safety of protesters in Nigeria remains as precarious as ever, and impunity for crimes against them is growing. 

“Impunity emboldens perpetrators. A failure to bring to justice those indicted for the shooting of peaceful protesters is, in itself, a violation of the rights to life and human dignity.

“The failure to promptly arrest, and bring to justice those suspected to be responsible for the shooting of peaceful protesters, and to ensure access to justice and effective remedies for victims and their families amounts to a travesty of justice, as justice delayed is justice denied.”

The leaked report of the panel had reportedly found that “the shooting of protesters at the Lekki toll-gate on October 20, 2020 was unwarranted, excessive, provocative and unjustifiable in the circumstances of the state of the protests, which was peaceful and orderly.”