Oyo State governor, Seyi Makinde, yesterday gave automatic scholarship to 23-year-old Samuel Ogundeji, who was falsely accused of stealing a banker’s wallet and brutalised by men of the defunct SARS, which resulted in blindness.
The governor, while receiving the report of the Oyo State Judicial Panel of Inquiry into police brutality and other related matters, that was set up by the state in the aftermath of the #ENDSARS protests that rocked the country late in 2020, also assured of quick implementation.
The governor, who received the report from the chairman of the panel, Hon. Justice Badejoko Adeniji (rtd), at the Executive Council Chamber of the Governor’s Office, Secretariat, Agodi, Ibadan, said the panel’s efforts would not be in vain.
He said: “The first step towards solving a problem is to identify that problem, and there is no way you will identify or get to the roots of any situation if we don’t talk about them, ask people to come forward and tell us. So, that is exactly what we have done in Oyo State by instituting this panel of enquiry.
“Before now, things got swept under the carpet, but people have been able to come forward, they have put facts on the table and it is now left for us to take proper steps out of it and react appropriately.
“A lot of people kept sending messages to me about when the panel of enquiry will send their report and I said, for us in Oyo State, we don’t just want to rush to do things. We want to be thorough and ensure that when we say a problem is solved, it is solved.’’
The governor commended the Justice Adeniji-led Panel for paying the first semester fee, accommodation, feeding and clothing needs of a 23-year-old man, who was brutalised by the SARS and blinded, noting that the state government will give automatic scholarship to the young man.
“Another thing that struck me was what your panel did for Samuel Ogundeji, the 23-year-old young man. You paid for his first semester fee. You have really gone over and above what we expected you to do. You saw a vacuum and filled it immediately. ‘’
SOURCE; https://leadership.ng/endsars-makinde-gives-scholarship-to-23-year-old-victim/