Inspector-General of Police, Tunji Disu, has expressed concern over the growing practice of citizens recording police officers with their phones, saying the trend has become “very, very demoralising” for members of the force.

In a video shared by TV Platinum on Wednesday, Disu spoke in Abuja during a meeting with the President of the Nigerian Bar Association, Oyinkansola Badejo-Okusanya, and members of the NBA executive committee. The meeting was part of efforts to prevent recurring clashes between lawyers and police officers.

The IG said a recent judgment on the recording of police officers had raised concern within the force, noting that citizens had subsequently begun recording officers in different locations.

“The recent judgement 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,” Disu said.

He said the practice had extended beyond police operations in public places, claiming that some people had gone to restaurants to record officers.

“Everywhere you see a police man, start recording a police man. So this is something that was very, very demoralising to us,” the IGP said.

Disu, however, acknowledged that citizens had the right to record police officers performing their duties in public, but urged restraint in how such recordings were made and used.

“We are not saying they cannot exercise their rights of recording officers in the public places while doing their jobs,” he said.

“But they should put restraints and not turn our police officers to content for their skits or anything,” he added.

The police chief also highlighted the difficult conditions under which officers operate, particularly those deployed to checkpoints and isolated locations.

“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,” Disu said, adding that officers often remained in such locations “morning and night” to protect the public.

Responding to the concern, Badejo-Okusanya said there was a need to distinguish between legitimate recording of police activities and intrusion into officers’ privacy.

“Policemen sitting down somewhere eating and people are recording them and intruding on their privacy,” she said, stressing the importance of considering the issue from the officers’ perspective.

However, the NBA president said transparency in the lawful execution of police duties should not be undermined.

“We should not be afraid of being transparent in the lawful execution of our duties,” Badejo-Okusanya said.

She cited the introduction of body cameras for police officers in the United States as an example of how recording can promote accountability.

“When the US introduced body cams for police officers, it was in order to promote that so that you yourself, you have a check, you know that whatever you’re doing, you have a body camera that is recording it,” she said.

According to her, such measures could help improve accountability and ensure that officers who engage in misconduct are identified and sanctioned.

Badejo-Okusanya said the solution was not to avoid recording altogether but to establish clearer boundaries around privacy and the lawful recording of police officers.

“We just need to understand the limits,” she said, adding that existing laws could be strengthened or interpreted to prevent abuse of the privilege to record.

She said lawyers and police officers should work together because both were “partners in the same quest to ensure that we have a safe and vibrant society that respects the rule of law.”

The 2027 African Democratic Congress (ADC) presidential candidate, Atiku Abubakar, has slammed those demanding that the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) probe him over corruption allegations.

Recall that a former National Vice Chairman (South-South) of the All Progressives Congress, APC, Ntufam Hilliard Eta, had urged the EFCC and other law enforcement agencies to immediately probe and prosecute Atiku over allegations of corruption.

However, reacting in a statement by his media aide, Paul Ibe, the former vice president described the calls as a mere political witch-hunt.

“When an incumbent government begins to feel politically threatened, the institutions of state suddenly become intensely interested in its opponents.

“The latest episode is the move to bring former Vice President and ADC presidential candidate, Atiku Abubakar, under the scrutiny of the EFCC.”

The former Vice President equally recalled that the Olusegun Obasanjo administration investigated him but was left with no evidence to pursue his prosecution.

According to him, almost two decades later, different administrations controlled the machinery of the Nigerian state, yet no successive administration found it necessary to prosecute him for corruption.

Operatives of the Benue State Police Command have arrested 46 suspects in connection with the attack on the convoy of the Nigeria Democratic Congress, NDC, presidential candidate, Peter Obi.


Commissioner of Police, Cletus Nwadiogbu, who announced this on Wednesday, said investigation is still ongoing as key leaders of the youths involved in the incident are being trailed.

He warned that the police in Benue State will not allow any act of political intolerance as the general election approaches.

The commissioner said the command would continue to take necessary steps to identify all those involved and ensure that anyone found culpable faces the law.

The development followed the blockade of Obi’s convoy on his way to Yelwata, where he was billed to meet and commiserate with victims of the June 2025 attacks.

Trouble started a few meters away from the airport when Obi’s convoy ran into a roadblock on the two-lane Makurdi-Gboko federal highway.