The Nigeria Police Force has said that personnel conducting stop-and-search operations have to wear uniforms with their names on them.
This statement was posted on Monday, January 29, by Muyiwa Adejobi, the Force Police Public Relations Officer, on his X account.
The force spokesperson was responding to a video that showed four police officers on Lekki-Epe Express Way stopping a motorist while wearing muftis.
When the officers went up to get the motorist’s tinted permit, he asked for their identities because he didn’t see anything that would suggest they were police officials.
But, reacting to the development, Adejobi said the policemen “have been traced to Zone 2 and identified,” adding that “the AIG Zone 2 Lagos is investigating, while the PPRO Zone 2 will speak on it as soon as possible.”
He claimed that the NPF had mandated that all police officers conducting routine patrol or stop-and-search operations be identifiable, in uniform, and appropriately attired.
According to Adejobi, it is not ideal for police officers to go on patrol while wearing a mufti because they will behave inappropriately when they are aware that their identities are unknown.
“You will recall that we have ordered and announced that any policeman embarking on routine patrol or stop and search must be in uniform, properly dressed, and easily identified. It’s not ideal to carry out a stop-and-search in mufti.
Read Also: Police arrest ‘kidnap, killer’- suspect of lawyer’s daughter Nabeeha in Abuja
“The audacity to misbehave or carry out unprofessional conduct comes when you know your identity is hidden and unknown. I still reiterate that policemen on stop and search and routine patrol must be in uniform. That is the standard in the police,” Adejobi said.
He added that “policemen in mufti are supposed to be on surveillance or undercover and not to be seen with long-range guns or rifles.
He added: “This is what our DPOs and HODs should emphasise and enforce to bring sanity and standardisation.”