The Inspector-General of Police, Olatunji Disu, has challenged the President of the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA), Oyinkansola Badejo-Okusanya SAN, over the legality and limits of citizens recording police officers while carrying out their official duties.

Disu raised the issue while engaging with the NBA President, questioning whether members of the public should be allowed to record police officers in the same way they might record activities taking place in other professional environments.

The police chief also questioned whether lawyers or other professionals would accept people entering their offices and secretly recording them, or whether proceedings in courts could similarly be recorded without restrictions.

He said the issue had become a growing concern within the Nigeria Police Force, particularly following a recent court judgment concerning the recording of police officers, which he said had encouraged citizens to bring out their phones and record officers in different situations.

Disu said the development had become “very, very demoralising” for police officers, particularly those deployed to dangerous locations such as highways, forests and bushes to protect members of the public.

He said, “Can we come to your offices and record you in your offices? Can we come to your offices and record you in your offices? Can we record even in the courts? Can we record?

“We were discussing it yesterday, and we discussed even the issue of our offices, people coming with concealed cameras. We checked the law. Our officer, the DIG in charge of planning, came up with later write-ups and a lot of authorities. He cited a lot of authorities. And that one probably will decide.”

The IGP appealed to the NBA to participate in a police symposium scheduled to hold in Owerri, Imo State, where the issue of recording police officers would be discussed, particularly in light of the recent judgment.

He said, “We’ll beg you whether you can send somebody to our symposium. We have one this month in Owerri. The recent judgment on recording of police officers. That one really jolted our officers and it became something of concern to us because the citizens started coming out with their phones to record police officers everywhere they saw them, and this can be embarrassing.”

According to Disu, the practice had gone beyond recording police officers while they were carrying out official duties in public places, with some Nigerians allegedly recording officers in restaurants and other places while they were eating.

He said, “Some even went to restaurants to start recording police officers who are eating. Everywhere you see a policeman, you start recording the policeman. So this is something that was very, very demoralising to us.

“We are doing very difficult jobs, and we need all the concentration in the world to be able to do our jobs.”

However, Disu clarified that the police were not necessarily opposed to citizens exercising their rights to record officers in public places while they were performing their duties.

He said the concern of the police was that such rights should be exercised with restraint and should not be abused for entertainment or social media content.

He said, “We are not saying they cannot exercise their right of recording officers in the public places while doing their jobs, but they should put restraint and not turn our police officers to content for their skits or anything.”

The IGP further explained that many police officers deployed to checkpoints and other operational locations work under difficult and dangerous conditions, often spending long hours in isolated areas to protect the public.

He said, “If you look at where we have our officers on checking points, there are dangerous areas, thick in the forest, thick in the bushes, on the highways, middle of nowhere, and these officers will stay there morning and night to do their job to keep other people safe.”