The Nigeria Police Force has clarified that the Inspector-General of Police, Olatunji Disu, does not oppose citizens recording police officers while performing their duties in public.
This was just as the Force said the IGP’s concern was the misuse of such recordings, particularly when police encounters are deliberately staged, provoked or turned into entertainment and social media content.
The Force New Media Officer, Aliyu Giwa, made the clarification in a series of posts on X on Saturday, following controversy generated by Disu’s recent comments on Nigerians filming police officers.
Giwa said the IGP’s position had been misunderstood, stressing that the police were not seeking to shield its personnel from scrutiny or deprive citizens of their rights.
According to him, responsible recording of police activities can serve the interests of both members of the public and police officers.
He noted that video evidence could help establish wrongdoing when an officer acted improperly, while recordings could equally protect officers against false allegations and assist investigations.
“It is important to distinguish between responsible documentation and the deliberate exploitation of Police encounters for social media content,” Giwa said.
He added that as a public institution, the police must remain open to legitimate scrutiny, but argued that officers also retained their rights to dignity and privacy while carrying out their duties.
“Wearing the uniform does not remove an officer’s right to dignity or privacy,” he said.
The clarification came after Disu’s remarks during a courtesy visit by the leadership of the Nigerian Bar Association to the Force Headquarters in Abuja.
IGP Disu had described the use of police officers in social media skits as “very, very demoralising”, while acknowledging that Nigerians were entitled to record officers performing their duties in public.
His comments triggered debate among lawyers, activists and members of the public over the limits of citizens’ rights to document police activities.
The controversy also revived attention to a March 17 judgment of the Federal High Court in Warri, Delta State, which affirmed the right of Nigerians to record police officers while they perform their duties in public.
Reacting to the debate, Giwa urged Nigerians not to interpret the issue as a confrontation between the police and the public or between the IGP and the NBA.
He said the focus should instead be on balancing police accountability and citizens’ rights with professionalism and respect for privacy.
“What social media often portrays as a disagreement between the IGP and the NBA President is, in fact, a matter of interpretation and context,” Giwa wrote.
He said the police leadership was committed to a more professional and accountable force, adding that technology should be deployed to strengthen, rather than undermine, policing.
Giwa further disclosed that the use of body cameras was being considered as part of broader discussions on accountable policing.
He said such technology could provide an objective record of encounters between police officers and citizens, potentially protecting both sides during disputes.
“In the digital age, the solution is not to fear the camera. Instead, we should use technology responsibly, uphold professionalism, and let truth, rather than social media narratives, define the conversation,” he said.
“The camera should not weaken the institution. Also, institutions should not fear legitimate scrutiny. Both must ultimately serve the truth, justice, and the Nigerian people.”
Meanwhile, human rights lawyer Inibehe Effiong had disagreed with Disu over his comments on Nigerians recording police officers for social media skits.
Effiong, speaking during an interview on Channels Television on Friday, argued that the police themselves could be regarded as a content-creating institution because of the various platforms through which the Force disseminates information.
The lawyer questioned the basis for determining what constitutes content creation, particularly whether the term should be limited to activities undertaken for financial gain.