The Nigeria Police Force has revealed that it is illegal to physically assault or beat a police officer in uniform, even if the officer has misbehaved.
The Force Spokesperson, Olumuyiwa Adejobi made this statement during a Twitter space organised by Premium Times, on Wednesday evening.
According to Adejobi, a policeman symbolises Nigerian authority and any disrespect launched against them would be regarded as an insult to Nigerian authority.
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Adejobi also said there are instances where it is allowed for police officers to apply force during the course of their duties.
However, he was emphatic that irrespective of what a police officer might have done, it is totally against the provisions of the law for a civilian to attack the erring officer.
He said, “If a policeman misbehaves to you, it is not enough for somebody to beat a policeman on uniform. There is a case today I saw the video trending, policemen arresting Okada man. “I have always been saying this, that there is no how you want to do enforcement that you will not apply minimum force.
“The law allows police officers to apply minimum force. Then how did you apply your minimum force to make it justifiable?
“I discovered that these men, these policemen were not actually using police bats. If they have used police bat on this man to suppress him to an extent, it is justifiable, but it is not for them to even cause injury to this man.
“But I noticed again when I reviewed and reviewed, I watched the video again and I saw that it was not a police bat in any way, it is one heavy metal. Is it a baseball bat or stick policemen would use on somebody because they want to contravene his bike? You can see to an extent that that one is not even professional in any way. To the extent that the man was bleeding profusely, he ran away from the scene using Marwa (tricycle). It is not still professional.”
