Members of Edo State Judicial Panel of Inquiry

By Jethro Ibileke/Benin

Pa Anthony Olaye, on Tuesday approached the Edo state judicial panel of inquiry for victims of SARS and related abuses, demanding for the sum of N40 million as compensation for the one-storey-bungalow housing the Ugbekun Police Station, which was razed by hoodlums who hijacked the #EndSARS protest last year.

The 88-year-old man who spoke through his Counsel, Blessing Agbeta, said he chose to approach the panel for a redress because the building located at Upper Sakponba road, serves as a retirement benefit for him.

He added that now that the building is no more, he wonders how he could cope.

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He further told the panel that the police are owing him the sum of N3.6 million on the building they have been occupying since 1983.

According to the retiree, the government could either help him rebuild the burnt building, or, alternatively, give him N40 million to compensate for his losses.

“The house in question is like a retirement benefit for the old man.

“At the age of 88, that is where he earns money to take care of himself.

“We are just begging the panel if they can help us talk to the governor to rebuild the place or in the alternative, compensate him so that he can have a good living, pending when the Lord God will call him to glory,” he said.

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“The police have been occupying his building since 1983 and they are owing him N3.6 million,” he alleged.