Outrage is growing over the right of Nigerians to record police officers while performing their duties in public, as human rights groups and the African Action Congress backed the position of the Nigerian Bar Association against attempts to restrict the practice.
The development followed a recent clash of positions between the NBA President, Oyinkansola Badejo-Okusanya, and the Inspector-General of Police, Olatunji Disu, over the extent to which members of the public can film police officers.
The NBA president had backed citizens’ right to record police officers performing their duties in public, while calling for clearer rules to protect officers from unnecessary intrusion into their private lives.
The position followed a March 17 judgment of the Federal High Court in Warri, Delta State, which affirmed Nigerians’ constitutional right to record police officers while they perform their duties in public.
Justice Hyeladzira Nganjiwa, in the judgment in a suit filed by a lawyer, Maxwell Uwaifo, also directed police officers to display their names and force numbers during public operations.
Speaking on the controversy on Thursday, the Amnesty International Country Director, Isa Sanusi, said anything capable of obstructing transparency in policing could not be justified.
He said, “It is the duty of the police to tell their men to be decent, to be fair, to be open, to be transparent.
“So if they are transparent and decent, I don’t think they should mind whether people are monitoring them or not.”
Similarly, the General Secretary of the Committee for the Defence of Human Rights, Gerald Katchy, backed the NBA’s position, saying recording police activities was an important tool for accountability.
Katchy said, “In every other clime and in a developed nation, video recording whenever issues of security are concerned is part of the accountability we are pushing for.
“Those who have nothing to hide have no reason to be afraid of being recorded.”
He said recordings could help establish evidence in cases involving alleged police misconduct or resistance to lawful authority.
According to him, the police should instead encourage the use of body-worn cameras by officers to promote professionalism and accountability.
“Filming has helped to establish evidence whenever issues of either misconduct or resistance to authority arise. So, it works in both ways,” he said.
Katchy argued that recording officers should not demoralise properly trained policemen, adding that officers who followed their training and professional rules should have no reason to fear being filmed.
“It’s uncalled-for, maybe, IGP saying that it’s demoralising. The ones it will demoralise are those who have ulterior motives,” he said.
The African Action Congress also condemned the reported restriction, arguing that Nigerians needed the ability to document encounters with police officers, particularly amid concerns over illegal checkpoints and criminals impersonating policemen.
The party said, “From ‘one-chance’ robberies to illegal checkpoints to impersonators in police uniform, Nigerians need to record who stops them, where, and what happens.”
The AAC cited Section 39(1) of the 1999 Constitution, which guarantees freedom of expression and the right to receive and impart information.
It said police officers performing public duties in public spaces could not invoke privacy to prevent citizens from documenting their activities.
A public affairs analyst, Dr Rufus Egbagba, however, said the IGP’s position should not be interpreted as an attempt to shield erring officers from accountability.
Egbagba said Disu had not directed that police misconduct should not be recorded or reported, but was calling for responsible engagement with officers performing their lawful duties.
He said officers should be able to perform their duties without unnecessary provocation or obstruction, adding that videos of alleged misconduct should be preserved and submitted through appropriate channels, including the Police Complaint Response Unit.
Egbagba also cautioned against relying solely on social media exposure to determine alleged misconduct, noting that short video clips might not capture the full circumstances surrounding an incident.
He said, “A short video clip may not always capture the full context of an incident: what led up to it, what was said off-camera, or what followed.”
The analyst acknowledged that the police had bad actors whose conduct should not be excused but warned that repeated circulation of misconduct involving a few officers could create the impression that such behaviour represented the entire Nigeria Police Force.
The IGP had earlier expressed concern over the growing practice of recording police officers, saying the development had become demoralising to members of the Force.
Disu, however, acknowledged citizens’ right to record officers while they were performing their duties in public.
“We are not saying they cannot exercise their rights of recording officers in public places while doing their jobs,” he said.
He urged members of the public not to turn police officers into material for social media skits, particularly when the officers were not performing official duties.
The NBA president also acknowledged the need to protect officers’ privacy, particularly when they were off duty.
She cited situations where policemen were recorded while eating or relaxing as examples of conduct that could constitute an invasion of privacy.
However, Badejo-Okusanya distinguished such situations from the recording of officers while carrying out official duties.
She cited the use of body-worn cameras by police officers in the United States as an example of how recording could promote accountability.
“When the US introduced body cams for police officers, it was to promote that,” she said.
She called for clearer rules to define the limits of citizens’ right to record police officers and prevent abuse of the practice.
“We just need to understand the limits,” she said.
The PUNCH reports that Disu, on May 31, 2026, during an interactive session with Crime Correspondents in Abuja, had cautioned content creators, social media users and members of the public against the indiscriminate recording and circulation of police-related videos, warning that such actions could undermine security operations and demoralise officers.
The IG expressed concern over what he described as the growing trend of recording police officers during routine and sensitive operations and posting such content online without proper context.
“Yes, accountability is important, and we remain committed to transparency. However, recordings and public engagements involving police officers must be done responsibly and should not be used to harass officers or undermine operational effectiveness,” he said.
According to him, while the Nigeria Police Force remains committed to accountability, transparency and respect for human rights, public scrutiny must be balanced with operational realities and the welfare of officers.
Source: punchng.com
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