Human rights lawyer Inibehe Effiong has challenged Inspector-General of Police Tunji Disu’s warning against Nigerians recording police officers for social media skits, arguing that citizens have a constitutional right to document law enforcement officers performing their duties in public.
Effiong made the remarks on Friday during an interview with Channels Television, days after Disu described the use of police officers in social media skits as “very, very demoralising.”
Disu clarified that his concern was not about citizens’ right to record police officers, but about turning members of the force into sources of social media content.
Effiong, however, questioned what qualifies as content creation and whether it is defined by financial gain or public enlightenment. He argued that the police could also be considered a content-creating institution because it operates social media accounts, a website and a radio station.
“When you examine the phrase content creator and content creation broadly, one can say that even the police itself is a content-creating institution,” he said.
The lawyer urged the police to clarify whether the IGP’s warning was specifically targeted at skit makers, entertainers and pranksters who use humorous videos as a source of income.
Effiong also questioned the police’s concerns about citizens recording officers while they are on duty, saying he had not seen evidence that filming officers, including while eating, was a widespread social media practice.
“He cited an instance where he said police officers would be eating and people would be filming them. I haven’t seen that being a practice that is rampant on social media,” he said, urging the police to provide specific examples to support the concern.
Effiong maintained that Nigerians have the right to record police and other law enforcement officers while they perform their statutory duties in public.
He cited Section 39 of the 1999 Constitution, which guarantees freedom of expression, including the right to disseminate information and ideas through various means.
