Why not? Ordinarily, we are supposed to
have CCTV all over the place. Contracts were awarded in Lagos and Abuja,
but the money was criminally diverted. About $470m was stolen. In all
the cities of the world that have CCTV, these illegalities are naturally
recorded so if ours was working, individuals wouldn’t need to do that.
In the United States and other countries of the world, you have CCTV.
The traffic lights also have cameras such that if you break the law,
your number plate and car would be captured and that is how your address
and details would be traced and you get a ticket. Also, in all airports
in the West where there have been terrorist attacks, the criminals have
been traced through CCTV.
So, it is a sign of backwardness on our
part that our country has not installed CCTV because that is the primary
way of detecting criminal activities. And for public officers like
policemen, you have no right to privacy when you are on duty so you can
be videoed or photographed if you are committing a crime because under
Section 24 of the 1999 Constitution, every citizen is obligated to
assist law enforcement agencies in the performance of their duties.
So, even the media is required by
Section 22 of the constitution to promote public accountability and
transparency. SO, there is no secrecy in governance. So, no policeman
can take you to court for recording him while committing a crime just
like any other citizen. Nobody can say, ‘you have violated my right to
privacy’ if I record him or her killing a citizen or beating up a
citizen.
- Abdul-Rahoof Ibn Bello (Lecturer, Department of Political Science, National Open University of Nigeria)
It is the constitutional responsibility
of every citizen to assist the law enforcement agencies in detecting,
preventing and enforcing the laws of the land; it is lawful to record or
procure any material that is impeccable and can be admissible in
evidence against any law enforcement agent performing an illegal duty.
This is a minimum constitutional
requirement of a citizen to demonstrate his/her loyalty to the country.
Failure to perform this duty makes such citizens liable for arraignment
for accessory before the fact of a crime committed by the state agent.
Prosecution and conviction of legal infractions in law courts depend on
the weight of evidence. Given the poor attitude and the high propensity
of the average police personnel for high-handedness, extra-judicial and
human rights abuse, it is logical to get them on tape or video while
performing such illegal duties.
Conversely, citizens can also record an
act of excellence and professionalism displayed by any security agent
for public attention, commendation and recognition for reward by the
appropriate higher authority. This act will not only be a public
performance appraisal on our police but would also serve as a means of
checks and balances as required under a democratic dispensation. Why do
we need to erect Close-Circuit Television in our cities as done in
advanced countries of the world? Is it not to fight crimes? It is a
crime against the state for any security agent to use his/her uniform
for illegal duties. How do you describe a policeman/soldier or any
member of the Armed Forces sitting in a vehicle to provide protection to
kidnappers, smugglers, drug-traffickers, etc? Citizens will be failing
in their constitutional duties to seek refuge in mute indifference or
cold complicity.
- Festus Keyamo, SAN (Human rights lawyer)
Absolutely! Nigerians have the right to
do so. It is an absolute right. They have an unrestricted and
fundamental right to do so. This is because policemen are public
officers performing public duties and as such, are subject to public
scrutiny.
Public scrutiny also involves recording
what they are doing. If you are in the line of duty as a policeman and
you are following the law, what should scare you? Do not also forget
that in civilised societies, it is not even the public that records
them, it is their own department that monitors them.
Cameras are installed in police cars so
that everything they do would be reviewed when they get back to the
office. In America, there are cameras in all police cars. And even on
their helmets, there are cameras so that everywhere they are going, it
can be recorded. So if the law and their own departments deem it fit to
record all their activities, how much more the citizens that they serve?
So, any policeman who thinks that the public has no right to record him
should be relieved of his duties. That means he wants to engage in
illegality and if you are not engaged in such, you will have no problem
having them record what you are doing. Recording a policeman violates no
law. Rather, it promotes the spirit and the letters of the law.
- Rev. Gideon Para-Mallam (Convener, Citizens Monitoring Group)
When it comes to men and women in
uniform engaging in illegal acts, it is not restricted only to the
police. What about the military and other security outfits? Basically,
what are we talking about here? Illegal roadblocks, collecting bribes on
the roads and army brutality in our society among others. Arresting
people is no longer done with decorum even if clandestinely, but with so
much drama, high handedness and show of force. This sadly in the past
has led to flared tempers and extrajudicial killings. It is a mindset
which needs to be re-oriented and firmly too by the authorities to check
such excesses. Such brute force is an abuse of human rights.
Recording policemen and women with one’s
camera: How many times has each succeeding IG, including the present
one, announced that this is the end of illegal roadblocks and extortion
of motorists on the roads?
Yet, soon after such announcements
nothing changes. In the absence of public CCTV, what options do our
citizens have in order to present as evidence against a bride collecting
policeman or policewoman on the road without recording such instantly?
By the way such recordings could also help in tracking crime in our
society. In advanced countries, such recordings are presented as
evidence during trials otherwise the guilty go free for lack of
evidence.
News agencies globally have also used
such recordings to report crime scenes and so why should Nigeria be
different? I know some things could be abused but that does not suggest a
call for its total rejection and practice.
On December 22nd, 2017, I recall
returning to Jos from Abuja to attend a function, but our journey slowed
down significantly between Keffi and Barde as traffic became chaotic.
Why? It was alleged that the police at a hurriedly mounted checkpoint
wanted the usual N50 naira from a trailer driver who refused to give
them money and they got angry and punctured one of his tyres and the guy
took the law into his own hands and decided to park his trailer across
the road blocking both sides – making it impossible for other vehicles
to pass.
Vehicular movement at such Christmas
season is usually very high. Interestingly, it took some soldiers and
policemen also hurrying either to Jos or Abuja to help make way for
motorists to meander through bush paths. Without videotaping the
incidence, how would you report that matter, what will your evidence be?
- Sunny Anyanwu (Lawyer)
Yes, Nigerians have the right to record a
policeman doing something illegal, but most often than not, the police
would seize the phone and force you to delete the recordings. I give you
an example: I recorded how policemen who were transferred from other
states to the Federal Capital Territory were being maltreated by the
Abuja command and how they sleep on the staircase for months. So I came
to take pictures with my phone and when I was caught, they deleted all
the pictures before returning my phone. I wanted to write to the
Inspector-General of Police or take them to court, but with the deletion
of the photographs, I couldn’t get any evidence against the force. I
wrote to the IG, but till today, there has been no response. I was
fighting for the policemen, but their superior seized the phone and
deleted the pictures before returning it to me. So, there is no evidence
to show that the policemen were being inhumanly treated. They would
deny it and say they are the best police in the world. But in case the
police destroyed your phone while recording them, you have the right to
take them to court and seek damages. Any policeman who damages someone’s
property should be dismissed; he is not fit to be a police officer, but
the police leadership won’t do it because they are also guilty of the
offence. A senator recently accused the IG of impregnating a junior
police officer, but nothing happened to the IG. In advanced countries,
he would have been sacked that same day.
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