Nigerians Slam Lagos Police PRO Over Comment On Extortion, Brutality Of Officers

Nigerians have taken it upon themselves to slam and educate Benjamin Hundeyin, Lagos State Police Public Relations Officer, over the experience he shared, stating he did not give money to officers at checkpoints and was not being harassed by the policemen.

 

Newsonline reports that the Lagos Police PRO took time to educate Nigerians on the experience he had with officers at a checkpoint in Ikeja area of the state and how he interacted with the policemen without giving them bribes.

 

SP Benjamin also disclosed that though the police officers asked him for money, he refused to give them while wearing an exciting mood.

 

The Lagos Police PRO, Benjamin narrated his experience on Thursday night on his Twitter handle:

 

He said, “I finally carried out my social experiment. I drove around Ikeja at about 11:50 pm, in mufti, in a private car. I passed through two police points. I spent five seconds at the first without a word from the police officer. He simply waved me on.

 

“I spent thirty seconds at the second. Officer: You be Uber? Me: No. it’s my personal car. Officer: Find me something na. Me: I no get anything. Officer: See as you fine. Find me something na. Me: (silence). Officer: Oya, dey go.

 

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“On both occasions, immediately I was flagged down, I switched on the cabin light and wound down the glass on my side. I greeted first. In addition to this, in the second scenario, I smiled and deliberately appeared friendly”

 

He further added, “Note: They did not recognize me; neither did I identify myself. It never got to that. Papers weren’t even asked for. I am positive there are many people with similar experiences out there. Different strokes for different folks, I know. One thing is sure, however.”

 

Benjamin called on Nigerians to always respect policemen at duty posts, stating that respect is reciprocal and citizens’ attitudes could be one of the reasons for constatnt brutality and extortion claims.

 

He said, “Respect is reciprocal. Appreciate those who stand out there all day and night for lesser pay. Don’t be condescending. Don’t be unnecessarily aggressive. Don’t be docile too. Always be firm with your rights. And don’t resort to taking the laws in your hands.

 

“There isn’t Utopia anywhere. Report the few bad eggs and we will continue to do internal cleansing. Thought to share my social experiment. Will tinker with the variables next time.

 

“This isn’t to invalidate or trivialize the bad experiences some motorists and commuters have had. Absolutely not.”

 

However, citizens who have had bad experiences at the hands of Nigeria Police Officers at their different duty posts disagreed with the Lagos Police spokesman.

 

Many argued that the Nigeria Police profile youths as criminals and would not have been cruel to him as he was not a youth.

 

Some said the Lagos Police spokesman ought to see many things wrong with policemen on duty demanding money which is against the Police Code of Conduct.

 

A professor and lawyer, Abdul Mahmud, on his Twitter handle, Dr, Great Oracle, said, “There’s everything wrong with the social experiment of the PRO. The wrong-ness lies at two levels:

 

“1. Though he cautioned that his tweets don’t in any way invalidate the behaviour of police officers; but in actual sense, his tweets do the exact opposite that he cautioned against.

 

“2. Mr. Hundeyin oversimplified the problem of police harassment. Let me take the second. Harassment is borne out of police profiling of youths and stereotypical behaviour towards the youth demography.

 

“Hundeyin should know that an older man spotting grey beards, whose eyes and bridge of the nose are adorned with rimless glasses is likely to have a drive through checkpoints, with all courtesy and compliment extend to him. Same can’t be said for a twenty-something who wears dreadlocks.
His social experiment objective is thus dubious.”

 

He added, On the excerpted quote on Police officers seeking “anything from the boys” in the course of performing their official duties, Mr Hundeyin took it as a problem to be treated lightly. In his own words, he smiled. Can you beat that? Here lies the problem I often tweet about: Our senior police officers don’t even know/understand our laws or the code of conduct which guides the operations of the police.

 

“If Mr Hundeyin understood the Police Code of Conduct, he would not have smiled at police officers who breached the Integrity Rule of @PoliceNG. The Code of Conduct for police officers demands that all officers must avoid conducts that compromise the integrity of the police and undercut public confidence in the Force.. He didn’t see anything wrong in the BABIALA attitude of his colleagues. Too bad. So sad.

 

“Again, I restate what I’ve always expressed here: these senior police officers have to return to the Police College for refresher courses.”

 

One of the organizers of the October 20, 2020 #Endsars protest, which was a campaign by the youths against police brutality Rinu Oduala, argued, “1. You are not a young person struggling to make a living in Nigeria. 2. You are a police PRO who never experienced brutality in his life but needs to show that police harassment doesn’t exist.

 

She added, “This planned PR is failing, Oga Hundeyin. Go & re-strategize.”