Owing to the wanton destruction of Okitipupa Local Government Secretariat, the management of the LGA Secretariat has disclosed that the damages done by hoodlums during the protest are beyond physical damages.
The Hope gathered that aside property worth 600 million naira that was damaged during the protest, historical records, monuments, ancient books, chieftaincy records and many other valuables lost cannot be quantified.
It was further gathered that the staff of the Secretariat are now using properties donated by private individuals in the area as offices, pending when the Secretariat will be rebuilt.
The management of the LGA therefore approached the Judicial Panel of Enquiry on Police Brutality and Other Matters sitting in Akure for compensation.
The LGA was represented by the Director, Local Government Administration, Bolarinwa Babarinde, who gave his witness at the floor of the panel yesterday.
Speaking to The Hope after the sitting, Mr Babarinde revealed that aside the 600million naira worth of damages, there were other unquantifiable losses suffered by the LGA, many of which were irrecoverable.
"What happened at Okitipupa can be categorised into two; there are physical damages. That is what we can present here (judicial panel) and we have submitted our petition and the estimate presented is to the tone of 600 million naira.
His words, "There are some other damages that cannot be quantified. There are psychological damages. There are some books and documents from Western region that were there.
"People from abroad do come to the LGA 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".
He further disclosed that emissaries had been sent to libraries all over the country to search for records, books and documents relating to Okitipupa LGA but noted that all the documents would not be recovered.
Also speaking, the legal representative of Okitipupa LGA before the Judicial Panel, Bode Bolarinwa urged the judicial panel to recommend adequate compensation for the LGA.
"We have already urged the honourable panel to grant our request to recommend compensation to the tune of 600million naira to the LGA.
He revealed 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.
The application of the LGA was heard, concluded and closed for recommendations to the state government.
In the same vein, the petitions filed by the Ondo State Judiciary and eight other petitioners were concluded and closed yesterday at the sitting of panel chairmed by Justice Adesola Sidiq (rtd).
The petitioners are Ojo Oluwabunmi Favour, Iyabode Akinwalere, Mrs Rachael Apuwabi, Samuel Rachel Banke and Salimon Olabisi. Others are Olusola Janet, Adepitan Yemisi, Iwanefun Olorundamilola.
Meanwhile, the cases filed by the Ondo State Internal Revenue Service, ODIRS and the Nigerian Correctional Service, Ondo State Command were adjourned till February 25, 2021 while that of Oluwatobi Famuwagun was adjourned till February 18 due to the unavailability of the petitioner's counsel
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