The Force Public Relations Officer (PRO) of the Nigeria Police, Muyiwa Adejobi, on Saturday said even if a policeman in uniform slaps a civilian, the civilian has no right to retaliate as doing so is an act of disrespect to Nigeria.
He disclosed this while reacting to an incident where two young men were dragging a rifle with a policeman on a highway over a phone in the Meiran area of Lagos, Nigeria.
In a video on Twitter, the two men were seen fighting with two policemen at a checkpoint as one of them accused one of the policemen of seizing his phone and insisted that he must have his phone back, and thereafter held the rifle of one of the policemen.
They have however been arrested and according to Ben Hundeyin, the Lagos State Police Command’s Public Relations Officer (PRO), they will be charged to court on Monday.
But writing on the incident and it’s implication on his Twitter handle, Adejobi said under no situation must a civilian attack policemen, adding that even if a policeman slaps a civilian, the civilian should not slap back.
According to the PRO tweets: “Even if a policeman in uniform slaps a civilian, the civilian has no right to retaliate, more so if he is in uniform. It’s an act of disrespect to Nigeria to beat an officer in uniform.
“The disrespect is not to the policeman, but to our nation and it’s a crime as enshrined in our criminal laws. So it’s not a case of what the policeman did that led to it, but the reaction of the civilians who actually assaulted the police.
“If policeman assaults a civilian, you report and actions will be taken to rebuke him and not to take the law into your hands, let alone it’s a matter of checking of phones, which can be easily reported and addressed.
