{"id":37457,"date":"2026-09-10T17:18:16","date_gmt":"2026-09-10T16:18:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.funminews.com\/?p=37457"},"modified":"2026-09-10T18:07:09","modified_gmt":"2026-09-10T17:07:09","slug":"breaking-igp-disu-challenges-nba-president-over-nigerians-filming-police-officers","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.funminews.com\/index.php\/2026\/09\/10\/breaking-igp-disu-challenges-nba-president-over-nigerians-filming-police-officers\/","title":{"rendered":"BREAKING: IGP Disu Challenges NBA President Over Nigerians Filming Police Officers"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Inspector General of Police Olatunji Disu has challenged Nigerian Bar Association President Oyinkansola Badejo Okusanya over the growing practice of citizens recording police officers, saying it has become \u201cvery, very demoralising\u201d for personnel.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

During an exchange with the NBA president, Disu questioned whether members of the public should have unrestricted freedom to record police officers simply because they are performing official duties.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He asked whether lawyers would accept people entering their offices and secretly recording them or whether unrestricted recording would be permitted inside courtrooms.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Disu said the issue had become a major concern within the Nigeria Police Force following a recent court ruling affirming the right of Nigerians to record officers carrying out duties in public.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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NBA President Oyinkansola Badejo Okusanya<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe recent judgment on recording of police officers, that one really jolted our officers,\u201d Disu said. He said Nigerians increasingly bring out their phones whenever they see police personnel, describing the practice as embarrassing and damaging to morale.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The police chief said the problem was no longer limited to officers performing public duties. He said some people had recorded officers while they were eating in restaurants and accused social media users of sometimes turning police personnel into subjects for skits and online entertainment.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cEverywhere you see a policeman, you start recording the policeman,\u201d Disu said. \u201cIt is very, very demoralising.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He stressed that police officers often work under difficult and dangerous conditions, including on highways, at checkpoints, in forests and in remote areas. Such officers, he said, need concentration to protect themselves and members of the public.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Disu nevertheless acknowledged that Nigerians have the right to record police officers performing their duties in public. He said his concern was about how that right is exercised and called for restraint rather than an outright prohibition.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Badejo Okusanya defended the public\u2019s right to record law enforcement officers performing official duties. She argued that transparency should not be viewed as a threat when public officials are acting lawfully.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe should not be afraid of being transparent in the lawful execution of our duties,\u201d the NBA president said, while acknowledging that officers also have privacy rights when they are not carrying out official functions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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\"\"<\/figure>\n<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

The dispute follows a Federal High Court ruling affirming that Nigerians may record police officers carrying out public duties. The judgment strengthened legal protections for citizens documenting police encounters and said officers should not intimidate people or seize their devices simply for recording them.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The question of filming police has become increasingly important in Nigeria as smartphone videos are frequently used to document allegations of extortion, harassment and misconduct. Police officials, however, have expressed concern that some recordings are taken out of context or used primarily to embarrass officers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Disu invited the NBA to participate in a police symposium in Owerri, Imo State, where the implications of the judgment and the limits of recording police officers are expected to be discussed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The exchange triggered strong reactions on social media, with several Nigerians arguing that police officers performing legitimate duties should have little reason to fear being recorded. One commenter said recording could even help improve the image of the police by showing officers carrying out their responsibilities properly.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Solomon Ohootu compared the debate with the use of police body cameras in the United States, arguing that video evidence can protect both officers and members of the public when disputes arise over what happened during an encounter.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Others questioned whether the same standard should apply beyond the police. Mojil Momoh and Atilagha Tamaraukuro argued that other public institutions, including the military, customs, immigration, lawyers and judges, should also face appropriate levels of public scrutiny rather than applying the principle only to police officers.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Inspector General of Police Olatunji Disu has challenged Nigerian Bar Association President Oyinkansola Badejo Okusanya over the growing practice of citizens recording police officers, saying it has become \u201cvery, very demoralising\u201d for personnel. During an exchange with the NBA president, Disu questioned whether members of the public should have unrestricted freedom to record police officers […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":11,"featured_media":37458,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"nf_dc_page":"","advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"jetpack_seo_schema_type":"","_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[4,5,458,3],"tags":[2405,23962,14894,23977,23321,3767,23976,1558,21399,21104,20504,12600,20895,21404,3895,23960,23975,20059,23964,23963],"class_list":["post-37457","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-featured","category-international","category-legal","category-naija-news","tag-breaking-news-nigeria","tag-citizens-rights","tag-federal-high-court","tag-filming-police","tag-funminews","tag-human-rights-nigeria","tag-igp-disu","tag-law-enforcement","tag-nba-president","tag-nigeria-legal-news","tag-nigeria-police","tag-nigerian-bar-association","tag-olatunji-disu","tag-oyinkansola-badejo-okusanya","tag-police-accountability","tag-police-checkpoints","tag-police-officers","tag-police-reform","tag-police-transparency","tag-smartphone-recording"],"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.funminews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/jmctL-9xuHWeWQdDfzshn2MYCZxzIo7HZJzs-AaiQ9aL4S2iEa7YS_Rlb7iWoEEs4uI3FNRIZnQSRUJ9r7bljl0WYLBS1xzdgIsagobqquKLjwebwIhgLHwTB3MmxLdp7I8SQKM0wAehWYwiE_jL5r7HAh7oBHZVJ_oN0ueBeXJEEiGawzSEbnK2_RjYL5k5.jpg?fit=1300%2C700&ssl=1","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.funminews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/37457","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.funminews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.funminews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.funminews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/11"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.funminews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=37457"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.funminews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/37457\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":37462,"href":"https:\/\/www.funminews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/37457\/revisions\/37462"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.funminews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/37458"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.funminews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=37457"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.funminews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=37457"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.funminews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=37457"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}