Adegboruwa Fires Back At Keyamo’s Labelling Of #EndSARS Panel As Illegal

A member of the Lagos #EndSARS Judicial Panel of Inquiry on Restitution for Victims of SARS Related Abuses and Other Matters Mr Ebun-Olu Adegboruwa (SAN) has hit back at claims made by Minister of State for Labour Festus Keyamo (SAN), that the panel didn’t have the jurisdiction to investigate the Federal Government’s agencies.

Mr Keyano further described the Panel as illegal when asked in an interview on Sunday, why the Minister of Information and Culture, Alhaji Lai Mohammed dismissed the Lagos panel report, which was constituted at the behest of President Buhari to investigate the allegations brought against the Nigerian Police around the country.

Keyamo answered, “I will not answer this question as a sitting minister. I will answer this question as a Senior Advocate of Nigeria – a member of the Inner Bar, and so I am entitled to my opinion. This is not the Federal Government’s position. From me, that panel was an illegal panel. It was totally illegal.

“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.

Responding to Keyamo’s claims, Adegboruwa in a statement said the panel cannot be described as illegal simply because its report wasn’t favourable to the government.

Adegboruwa said “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 unfavourable.

“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 the government to build trust in the people in all its dealings and utterances,” he added.

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