Ebun-Olu Adegboruwa, a Senior Advocate of Nigeria, (SAN), has condemned and queried the Federal Government, FG, for its statement that, the outcome of the #EndSARS panel of Inquiry, set up to investigate Police brutality across the country, is illegal.
Senior Advocate, Adegboruwa, who represented the civil society, at the Lagos State Judicial Panel of Inquiry, said this in a statement released on Monday, November 29, 2021.
The statement reads:
THE LEGALITY OF #EndSARS PANELS
The federal government has recently muted the idea that all the Judicial Panels of Inquiry set up by the various States across the Federation, especially that of Lagos State, are illegal.
It has never been part of our legal system in Nigeria, for a plaintiff who approached the court in the first instance, to turn around to challenge the legality or jurisdiction of the court.
The #EndSARS Panels were set up at the behest of the Federal Government, through the National Economic Council.
In the case of the Lagos Panel, the Federal Government, through the Nigerian Army, voluntarily submitted itself to the jurisdiction of the Panel, the federal government called witnesses, it tendered documents and it made very lengthy presentations.
A party cannot approbate and reprobate at the same time.
Thus, a party who initiated a process and willingly and actively participated in that process, cannot turn around, after judgment, to plead illegality or absence of jurisdiction, simply because the outcome is unfavorable.
We must strengthen our institutions to make them work.
While we all await the White Paper from the Lagos State government, it is important for government to build trust in the people in all its dealings and utterances.
God bless Nigeria.
Ebun-Olu Adegboruwa, SAN
Lekki, Lagos.
29/11/2021
Recall that, Festus Keyamo, who is also a Senior Advocate of Nigeria, and the seating Minister of State for Labour, and Employment, in the President Buhari, APC led administration, said on Sunday, Nov. 28, 2021, over the national television that, the #EndSARS Panel of Inquiry, was an “illegal Panel”; and that the outcome of the investigations was “not the Federal Government’s position.”