A file image of the #EndSARS protesters

By Dayo Johnson

The Okitipupa council area of Ondo state has requested for N600m compensation from the Judicial Panel of Enquiry on Police Brutality and Other Matters as damages during the # EndSARS protest in the state.

Authorities of the council told the panel sitting in Akure, the state capital that the damages done by hoodlums during the protest were beyond physical damage.

Recall that the council Secretariat was looted and razed during the protest while some school shuttle buses were set ablazed.

Some private buildings were equally razed by the hoodlums.

Also damaged include historical records, monuments, ancient books, chieftaincy records and many other valuables.

The staff of the secretariat are now using property donated by private individuals in the area as offices.

The local government, represented by the Director, Local Government Administration, Bolarinwa Babarinde said that aside the N600million worth of property damaged, other unquantifiable losses suffered by the local government, were irrecoverable.

“What happened at Okitipupa can be categorised into two; there are physical damage.

READ ALSO: #EndSARS: BMO accuses Amnesty Int’l, TI of trying to discredit states Judicial Panel

“That is what we can present here (judicial panel) and we have submitted our petition and the estimate presented is to the tune of N600 million .

“People from abroad do come to the council for documents like maps, marriage certificates. Records of Obas and Chiefs, traditional declarations of towns, villages and communities and many other things; there is no way we can lay our hands on them now. That’s why I said we cannot quantify”.

Babarinde said that emissaries had been sent to libraries all over the country to search for records, books and documents relating to Okitipupa local government.

Also speaking, the legal representative of Okitipupa local government before the Judicial Panel, Bode Famakin urged the judicial panel to recommend adequate compensation for the local government.

Famakin said that some individuals in the area donated some property and complexes for staff of the Secretariat to carry out their daily routines, pending the rehabilitation and rebuild of the Secretariat.

Vanguard News Nigeria