FOLASHADE KEHINDE
ONE of the promoters of the #EndSARS protest, who is a member of the Lagos State Panel of Inquiry on police brutality, Oluwarinu Oduala, has said that the Federal Government has disappointed her by clamping down on #EndSARS promoters.
Oduala, who said she had sacrificed her education, personal life and family to be a member of the panel, said she took up the role to make peace and to ensure the youths understood that the only way to create a better and safer Nigeria was to do things lawfully.
She, however, said that the freezing of the accounts of promoters of the protest negated the idea behind the Federal Government’s peace making efforts.
Oduala said it would be difficult to still believe in a government that agreed to reform the Police, which protesters asked for, but still went after those who spoke up by freezing their accounts.
“How do you expect me as a part of the future of this country to still believe in a country who thinks they can through CBN freeze my account for no just cause? This is not fair,” she tweeted on Monday.
“I am not afraid; I am only disappointed that this country will treat us this way. We are the soul of this nation and no nation exists without her people,” she added.
Oduala said, of the funds in her account that was frozen, N200,000 was her personal money while the remaining, donated by people who believed in the cause, were meant to be disbursed to take care of medical bills of injured protesters.
“The funds in question here also includes some of my personal hard-earned money of over N200,000 naira. These funds were earmarked for disbursement towards the medical bills of injured protesters,” she stated.
On why she took up the Panel role, Oduala said, “I did this to make peace. I did (it) to ensure our young people understood that the only way to create a better and safer Nigeria is to do things lawfully. Why am I still being targeted for lending the government my goodwill?”
On Saturday, the Chairman of the Inquiry Panel, retired Justice Doris Okuwobi, had suspended its sitting, when Oduala and Temitope Majekodunmi boycotted the panel in protest against the freezing of #EndSARS promoters’ accounts.
The Point had reported that the Federal High Court, Abuja, had granted the Central Bank of Nigeria the approval to freeze the bank accounts of 20 promoters of the #EndSARS protests.
The apex bank obtained the approval to freeze the affected accounts, domiciled in Access Bank, Guaranty Trust Bank, Fidelity Bank, First Bank, United Bank for Africa, and Zenith Bank, till January 2021, in the first instance, following a motion ex parte it filed before the Federal High Court.
The accounts, the judgment said, had been frozen pending the outcome of investigation and inquiry currently being conducted by the CBN.
The Chairman of the Committee, Senator Opeyemi Bamidele, however, told journalists shortly after Malami’s appearance, that the matter was currently not before the Senate.
