Nigeria mobilizes against police violence after Lekki's drama

Injured at the hospital in Lagos during the visit of the governor of the state, Babajide Sanwo-Olu.

October 21, 2020. Ademola Olaniran / Lagos State Government / Handout via REUTERS

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Several states have already set up committees to investigate police violence, one of the demands of young people whose protest movement was bloodily suppressed after an army intervention on October 20 in Lagos.

A "judicial committee of inquiry and restitution" made up of eight members began its work Tuesday, October 27 in the megalopolis to try to do justice to some victims.

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With our correspondent in Abuja,

For this first day of work, the Lagos judicial committee heard two testimonies from victims of the SARS [Special Anti-Robbery Squad], the police brigade whose serious abuses triggered

The committee, headed by a retired judge, includes members of civil society, and two youth representatives, who will sit three days a week.

The governor of Lagos also pledged that a " 

 " into

 so that those responsible are known.

Well done to the youths in Lagos for coming together to select Rinu Oduala & Majekodunmi Temitope to join the Lagos Judicial Panel On SARS as part of our commitment to justice and compensation for victims of Police brutality.

Proceedings are public, follow @LagosSarsPanel pic.twitter.com/9cNTWgaZGq

  Babajide Sanwo-Olu (@jidesanwoolu) October 27, 2020

In an interview with the American channel CNN, Babajide Sanwo-Olu admitted that Nigerian army soldiers were visibly present on the scene on the evening of the tragedy which claimed the lives of two people, according to him.

But many Nigerians doubt that such an investigation will succeed.

In the past, an investigative committee in the city of Kaduna had, for example, confirmed the army's responsibility for the

in 2015, without any soldier ever being prosecuted.

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