The menace of officers of Nigerian Police Force (NPF) stopping residents of Lagos and demanding to search their phones has become increasingly worrisome.
In light of this, Police PRO Dolapo Badmus, has addressed the issue and made it clear that no officer of the law has the right to randomly stop citizens and demand to rummage through their mobile devices. Legit.ng recently sighted a video clip of the Police PRO addressing the issue on the micro-messaging platform, Twitter.
According to the policewoman, officers demanding to search people’s mobile devices can be likened to walking up to a random man and asking him to pull off his boxers for the sake of a search operation.
She said the development is wrong as a phone is a private space. Sighting herself as an example, Badmus noted that she could decide to keep vital information such as her bank account in her phone.
The PPRO added that there are also people who store their bank statements in their mobile phones and it would be completely wrong for a police officer to demand to go through such devices.
She, however, noted that such searches are only appropriate when there is a reasonable ground for doing so.
Badmus made it clear that officers are only permitted to search mobile devices when there is a reason to carry out investigations.
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