By The Lagos State Judicial Panel on Restitution for Victims of SARS and other related matters on Tuesday continued its sitting with 16 cases listed for hearing.
One of the highlights of today’s sitting was the petition of late Kolade Johnson, who was allegedly killed by an officer of the defunct Special Anti-Robbery Squad (SARS) in 2019 in the Mangoro area of Lagos.
Present to testify on Kola’s behalf were two representatives, his neighbor and sister.
On the prompting of his lawyer, Wale Ademoyejo, the first witness, Nana Samuel, recounted how the victim and others went to an eatery in March 2019, to watch a football match.
He said they were cracking jokes when a lady ran in, shouting that kidnappers were around. They ran out and found one Ismail being beaten up by men in mufti who came in a commercial bus.
According to Samuel, a man came out of the bus wearing a black polo with SARS inscribed at the back of the shirt, raised his rifle, and shot in the air.
Samuel said he and Kolade hid at a nearby taxi park while Ismail was driven away, adding that the bus then stopped and an officer pointed his gun at them.
He said they heard three gunshots, one of which hit Kolade in the stomach and was later pronounced dead at the General Hospital.
The case has been adjourned to January 22, 2021 for further hearing.
