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• Security experts task Disu on enforcing discipline, professionalism, on police personnel
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By Olakunle Olafioye
Nigeria’s new Inspector General of Police, Tunji Disu has got his work cut out for him. In the months to come, the nation’s 23rd IGP will be assessed not only by his principal but also by Nigerians who expect him to live up to expectations on the core mandate of strengthening internal security in the country, intelligence gathering, and professionalism among officers and men of the Nigeria Police Force.
For decades, indiscipline and lack of professionalism among operatives of the force have not only blighted the performance of the Nigeria Police, but they have also equally diminished the dignity and prestige that operatives of the force once commanded. And with successive police administrations having failed to restore the force’s lost glory, attention is gradually shifting to the new IG, who, judging by his records, those who know him have continued to express optimism about the new policing era in the country.
But with the Nigeria Police, official recklessness is an iron habit. Barely three weeks after the new IG assumed office, Nigerians were treated to another ignominious sight of the force when three police officers publicly assaulted a woman believed to be a mechanic at Ladipo Market in Lagos before driving off in an unmarked commercial minibus with her folder.
In the video, which has now gone viral on social media, two policemen were seen dragging another man who ostensibly was with a woman before a third officer, apparently a superior officer, ordered them to let go of him. As they made to leave in the unmarked commercial minibus, the woman was heard demanding her folder from the policemen while the other victim was asking for his driver’s licence. The woman who was busy filming the incident then attempted to get a close-up shot of the policemen, but one of them attempted to snatch the phone with which she was recording the incident from her. Passersby and other observers at the scene were then heard condemning the action of the policemen as they zoomed off.
In another scenario of an alleged act of indiscipline by the police, another viral video of police officers who engaged the services of a civilian for the alleged purpose of extorting motorcyclists and other road users also surfaced online last week. The video, which was reportedly filmed in Ota, Ogun State, identified a man in a police vest who was designated as a ‘police dog,’ a pejorative for people who act illegally as informants to security operatives.
Multiple sources and commenters who claimed to recognise the man alleged that he was ’employed’ by the police officers at Obasanjo Police Station at Onipanu, Ota, Ogun State, for the illegal assignment of snitching on road users. “Nigeria Police Force. Let us repost this picture. He should be arrested and interrogated for working as an illegal police officer. According to the report, he is an Okada man along the Ayobo route, and there are a lot of them like that working for police at checkpoints both in Lagos and Ogun State,” a statement accompanying the post on Facebook revealed.
Following the outrage that trailed the revelation, Sunday Sun gathered that the impersonator had been apprehended.
“The man who appeared in the viral video in a police polo over alleged harassment and extortion of road users along Obasanjo in the Ota area of Ogun State has now been arrested,” a reliable source revealed. “He has been taken to the state police command for interrogation and further actions.”
The source further revealed that the officers with whom he worked are equally facing disciplinary actions.
Meanwhile, Nigerians across the country have said the development is not new across many states, with many claiming such impersonators are engaged by most police stations in the country.
“It’s not new in Nigeria as a whole. Come to Cross River, Port Harcourt, Warri, and Benin; in fact, they are referred to as officers. As I am talking to you, there is one in my area. Those who know him very well said he has been doing it for more than five years,” a source who identified himself as Dave said.
In another case of display of crass recklessness, two motorcycle passengers were allegedly killed by a stray bullet fired by a police officer attached to Alagbado Police Station around Joke-Ayo/AIT Road in the Alagbado area of Lagos on February 21. The trigger-happy policeman, reports claimed, had aimed at fleeing suspected internet fraudsters popularly known as Yahoo Boys but missed his target, resulting in the deaths of the victims, who died on the spot.
Eyewitnesses claimed that the shooting occurred at about evening when the police team flagged down a vehicle, but the driver reportedly refused to stop. One of the officers reportedly fired a shot in the direction of the fleeing vehicle but accidentally hit the two passengers who were on the motorcycle.
Police spokesperson SP Abimbola Adebisi confirmed the unfortunate incident in a post on X and revealed that the officers involved had been taken into custody pending a thorough investigation ordered by the Commissioner of Police, Olohundare Jimoh.
Nigerians appear unpersuaded by constant promises by the police hierarchy to deal with acts of gross recklessness and discipline of its operatives. Their angst, understandably, highlights the long-standing frustrations with police operations in the country.
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A security expert, James Obande, wants the new IGP to make professionalism among the personnel, improved welfare, and intelligence-driven operations the major focus of leadership.
Additionally, Obande said faithful implementation of the Police Act is equally key to repositioning the Nigeria Police Force.
Beyond this, Obande called for improved police-civilian relationships. This, he noted, will go a long way in helping the police force in the discharge of its duty. “The trust placed by a population in the police forces is an important factor in social cohesion. The more citizens perceive the actions of the police as legitimate, the more they support the police force. As public trust grows, citizens become more willing to provide valuable feedback, voice needs, and collaborate with law enforcement to protect their community,” he said.
Another security expert, Mr. Folarin Adeogun called on the new IGP to inject new innovation to engender professionalism among police officers. He pointed out that policing requires the highest level of professionalism and integrity and urged the IGP to insist on adherence to the rule of law and empathy towards the public.
“Policing in the modern day demands empathy and compassion toward the civilian population. While the police officers must be firm in discharging their duty, it is imperative they carry out their responsibility with professionalism and integrity. That is where being innovative comes in.
“My admonition to the IGP is to inject new innovation in encouraging professionalism in the force, especially when dealing with the civilian population.
One of the ways to promote professional conduct of the police officers had been captured in the Administration of Criminal Justice Act (ACJA). So IGP Disu should therefore insist that police officers must adhere strictly to the Act,” he stated.
Public anger against the operatives of the Nigerian Police Force continues to mount across the country. Many of those who recounted their past ordeals with the police expressed their dissatisfaction with the performance of the nation’s police force and expressed doubts over the abilities of the personnel of the force to discharge their core mandate of protecting lives and property.
Oluwaseun Olayiwola, who said his experience at Alakuko Police Station, where he was detained for three days over a matter he claimed had nothing to do with him, said he lost faith in the police as far as the issue of security of lives and property is concerned since his travail. He opined that the utmost concern of an average police officer as soon as he or she puts on the uniform is how to make extra money on a daily basis.
Narrating his ordeal, Oluwaseun said sometime in late 2024, his former boss, who dealt in the paint business and sales of paint chemicals, travelled outside the country. “A few days later, he called and instructed me that a customer he supplied chemicals to earlier before he travelled had complaints about the products and that he had reached an agreement with him to make a refund if he wished to return the products. I was expected to confirm the number of bags left in his possession before he (his boss) would make the refund. On getting there, I discovered that the man had sold all the goods he claimed were substandard.”
Oluwaseun said when he announced his assignment to the man, the man became unusually friendly and started sounding patronising. “He requested I should tell him where my boss sourced the goods from, but I claimed I didn’t know. At a point, he offered to give me money, but when I insisted I didn’t know, he changed his tactic from persuasion to threats. Before I knew what was going on, two policemen arrived, collected my phone, and took me to Alakuko Police Station, where I was detained incommunicado for two days before a good-natured policewoman helped me to contact my uncle, whom I lived with then. My uncle then informed my boss, who later sent his lawyer before I regained my freedom on the third day. All the man wanted was to know when my boss sourced the chemical so that he would bypass for future supplies,” he stated.
Like Oluwaseun, Owolabi Jimoh is also worried about the activity of the police force after a nasty encounter with men of the force recently. Jimoh, a driver, said he was flagged down by policemen while conveying some goods meant for a customer and was asked for the waybill of the items on his vehicle, which he presented.
“But after inspecting the goods, the officer then made a comment that the information provided on the document was incomplete because the price of the items was not stated. That to me was a surprise because in my entire years as a driver, no policeman had ever demanded to know the price of the goods onboard,” he said.
Jimoh would later call the owner of the goods, who also told him that waybills do not reflect the prices of items. “But every explanation I offered did not yield any positive results until I was forced to “settle” him,” he explained.
Jimoh observed that while he was haggling with the police officer who stopped him, other police personnel at the checkpoint also engaged other motorists, leaving no one to focus on their core duty of stopping and checking other vehicles.
Currently, the Lagos State Police Command is battling hard to redeem its image as a fresh allegation of vehicle hijacking and fabrication of traffic offences with the aim of extorting a motorist trails the state task force.
In a widely circulated video, an official of the task force was accused of forcefully taking control of a vehicle from the driver and repositioning it with a view to creating a false impression that the vehicle was arrested plying one way.
Reacting to the development, not a few commentators expressed the view that the police could go to any length in framing people in order to extort them. “I was once a victim of such fabrications by the police,” a respondent who identified himself simply as Davies started. “I was returning from the East some time ago. While descending the bridge at Agege in the tricycle I boarded, two policemen stopped the tricycle at about 9:00 pm and demanded money from the operator. Just as he was about to move after setting them, they saw the bag I had and demanded to see the contents, which I had a problem opening for them. But upon seeing my willingness to show them the contents of the bag, they changed their mind and insisted I follow them to their station for the search. At that point I decided to open the bag on my own and started unloading the contents. The tricycle operator then advised I give them money right there and avoid following them to their station. I heeded his suggestion and gave them N2000 from the earlier N20,000 they demanded,” he said.
Davies said he later gathered from the tricycle operator that he could have been framed for a major crime had he failed to comply with their demand.
