Bayelsa State Panel of Inquiry on Police Brutality and Other Related Matters has again awarded a total sum of twenty-nine million Naira against the Nigeria Police in three separate rulings, delivered in Yenagoa, the state’s capital.
All three judgments emanated from a shooting incident at the Niger Delta University, Ammassoma, which involved the police and protesting staff of the institution.
The unfortunate shooting incident involving men of the Nigeria Police Force deployed to restore normalcy during a protest by disengaged staff of the Niger Delta University, Ammassoma on May 22nd, 2019, provided backgrounds for all three judgments delivered by the Bayelsa State Judicial Panel of inquiry on June 4, 2021.
Two petitioners, Paul Orusa, a student, and Alaowei Bidei an aspiring footballer were awarded eight million Naira each for gunshot injuries sustained from police bullets.
The family of a 21-year-old man, Jonathan Festus, from Olomoro Community, Delta State, who was killed in the Ammassoma shooting also received 13 million Naira as compensation.
Meanwhile, petitioners have called on the government to ensure the judgments and recommendations of the panel are carried out to them later.