Police IG Urges Nigerians Not to Turn Officers Into Skit Content

Inspector-General of Police Olatunji Disu has appealed to Nigerians to exercise restraint when recording police officers performing their duties, particularly where such footage is created or circulated primarily as entertainment or social-media content.

Disu made the appeal during an interaction with crime correspondents in Abuja, where he acknowledged that citizens have the right to record police officers carrying out their duties in public. His concern, however, was that the right should not be used to deliberately turn officers into material for skits or online entertainment.

The Inspector-General said the police do not object to legitimate public scrutiny but argued that indiscriminate recording could affect officers' morale and interfere with their concentration during operations. He noted that police personnel are often deployed to difficult and potentially dangerous locations, including highways, forests and remote areas, where they are expected to maintain security for extended periods.

Disu's comments come months after the Federal High Court in Warri, Delta State, affirmed citizens' right to record police officers performing their duties in public spaces. The court ruled in March 2026 that officers should not harass, intimidate, arrest or seize the devices of people who record them while carrying out public duties.

That legal background makes the distinction in Disu's warning important. The police chief did not say Nigerians were prohibited from filming officers. Instead, he called for responsible use of recordings and objected particularly to situations where officers become the subject of entertainment content.

The issue reflects a wider tension between police accountability and the operational concerns of law enforcement. Recording an officer can provide valuable evidence when misconduct is alleged, particularly in situations involving stop-and-search operations, arrests or other encounters between police and members of the public. At the same time, filming officers purely for amusement or deliberately distracting them during sensitive duties can create a different set of concerns.

There have been recent instances in which police videos recorded by members of the public have helped draw attention to alleged misconduct. In July, the Nigeria Police Force ordered an investigation into officers shown in a viral video during a stop-and-search operation on the Lagos-Benin Expressway. The Force said the officers had been identified and placed in custody pending disciplinary proceedings.

Lagos State Police Commissioner Tijani Fatai has also previously told officers that they should not fear being recorded while performing lawful duties, saying that officers acting within the law have nothing to hide. His position illustrates why public recording and police accountability remain important even as the Inspector-General asks Nigerians not to abuse the practice.

The police warning should therefore not be interpreted as removing citizens' right to document events in public. Rather, it raises a question about the purpose and manner of recording. Documentation intended to expose misconduct or preserve evidence is fundamentally different from deliberately provoking an officer or turning an encounter into entertainment.

For the police, the challenge will be to protect officers from unnecessary harassment without discouraging legitimate public oversight. For citizens, responsible recording means maintaining a reasonable distance where possible, avoiding interference with an active operation and using footage responsibly rather than deliberately provoking confrontation for online engagement.

The debate ultimately highlights the need for both sides to understand their responsibilities. Police officers remain subject to public scrutiny when exercising state powers, while citizens should exercise their rights in ways that do not unnecessarily obstruct lawful police duties.