EXPLAINER: Is ‘videoing’ Police officers during stop-and-search illegal in Nigeria?

Past events and incidents of police brutality, coupled with daily technological advancement, have popularised the trend of videoing Police officers on duty, especially during stop-and-search. 

Recently, a video clip surfaced on social media, particularly X (formerly Twitter), showing an encounter between a Nigeria Police Force (NPF) officer and a young man behind the wheel.

According to the now-viral clip, the policeman stopped the car during a stop-and-search in Lagos and requested the vehicle particulars. In response, the young man put on a pair of smart glasses with camera features before opening the car’s safe to retrieve the papers.

“Why did you put on your camera?” the officer asked, stretching his hands violently through the car’s window in an attempt to stop being recorded. 

“Why are you hitting me? What have I done wrong? Why are you touching me?” the young driver inquired repeatedly, blocking the violent attempt by the officer to take off his pair of smart glasses. 

“Why did you put us on camera?” he asked the ‘recalcitrant’ young driver again, adding, “You’re ‘cameraing’ Police.” 

“I’m not ‘cameraing’ the police. I bought my glasses, can’t I wear it again?” the seemingly surprised driver asked again rhetorically, repeating the earlier question, “Officer, what have I done wrong?”

Before the short clip ended, the encounter apparently slipped off the track of a tense conversation to an assault. The officer made another attempt to remove the pair of glasses, somewhat forcefully, which led to the abrupt stopping of the recording. 

Trend from Haunting #EndSARS Experience 

Barely five years ago, Nigerians across major cities in the country trooped to the streets for days in protest against brutality by the Special Anti-Robbery Squad, also known as SARS.  

The protest, dubbed #EndSARS, had hundreds of youths in places like Lagos, Abuja, Port Harcourt, Osogbo, Ibadan, Benin, Makurdi, Ogbomoso, among others, leveraging social media to gain global attention while calling for Police reforms and an end to brutality in Nigeria. 

Tribune Online reports that the protests, which started peacefully, turned deadly with Police officers allegedly turning violent against the demonstrators. This eventually resulted in the controversial shooting of protesters at the Lekki toll gate on the 20th of October 2020 and reported deaths while many wounded. 

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The memorable #EndSARS incident, which resulted in the scrapping of the Police’s special squad, not only promised Police reforms but also left haunting lessons for both young and old. 

Lately, many cases of Police brutality have not only been caught on camera but also seen victims, and or eyewitnesses leveraging the instrumentalities of the internet to seek justice, prompting actions from the authorities. 

What’s the Nigeria Police Force’s stance?

While this is not the first case of harassment by law enforcement agents that has gained attention through viral video evidence just this month, it’s noteworthy that the Police authority has been swift in response to these incidents lately. 

Reacting to the viral video, the Nigeria Police Force, in a statement on its official X account, condemned the attempt by the officer to remove the pair of glasses, which led to assault on the driver. 

“We strongly condemn the actions of some officers captured in a viral video attempting to forcibly remove a pair of glasses from a motorist during a stop-and-search operation and further assaulting him. The officers involved have been identified as personnel attached to the Lagos State Police Command.

“The Commissioner of Police in charge of the Lagos State Command has been contacted and has swiftly acted appropriately to ensure that the officers face commensurate disciplinary actions. He has equally ordered for the restructuring of the squad involved. 

“The Nigeria Police Force assures the public that this isolated incident does not represent the standards of professionalism expected of police personnel. The Force leadership stands on its commitment to identifying and sanctioning the very few errant officers whose actions embarrass dedicated, hardworking and responsible personnel of the Force,” the statement reads in full. 

However, this statement failed to explicitly clarify the legality of recording a police officer on duty.  But according to reports, the Force Public Relations Officer (FPRO), DCP Olumuyiwa Adejobi, had earlier clarified that taking videos or pictures of policemen on duty is never an offense. 

“You can video or take pictures of policemen on duty. We have said it severally. There is nothing wrong with that,” Adejobi was quoted as saying, adding that every policeman is also aware that no law criminalises citizens from recording them.

Videoing policemen: Law, expert weigh in

“The privacy of citizens, their homes, correspondence, telephone conversations, and telegraphic communications is hereby guaranteed and protected” — Section 37 of the 1999 Constitution (as amended)

However, like other fundamental human rights, the right to privacy protection is not absolute as it can be restricted under certain situations by the National Assembly. Likewise, the Nigerian Constitution is not explicit on what could be considered a person’s privacy, especially in this digital age. 

Interestingly, this law does not apply to police officers on duty in a public place. 

Sharing his opinion on the matter, Abdullahi Tijani, a legal practitioner and Executive Director of The Liberalist, a pro-freedom magazine, said that though one can be sued for filming a person without consent, according to Section 37 of the constitution, it is, however, not applicable to police officers on duty.

“There’s no law that criminalises filming Police officers, especially if they’re on duty. The only law we can make reference to here, and why I said if they’re on duty, is section 37, which says everybody is entitled to their privacy, which includes their appearance. So, you cannot film, record, or even snap any person without their consent. That can be grounds for a lawsuit.”

Tijani added that police officers, like every other public official, are subjected to public scrutiny and can do only what the law permits. 

“But this is not a case when we’re talking about a police officer on duty. Because, as government officials, they’re subjected to scrutiny from the Nigerian citizens. And by the jurisprudence that guides our laws, a citizen has the right to do anything but what the law prohibits. And unlike the government officials, including police officers, they cannot do anything but what the law permits. So, in this case, if you’re filming a police officer on duty, especially on duty, there’s no law that criminalises it,” he added. 

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