Police disclaim viral video of inspector assaulting man

Etim Ekpimah

The Lagos State Police Command has denied a trending Instagram video of an inspector from Igando Division of the command assaulting a man.

A statement signed and made available to newsmen by the state Police Public Relations Officer, SP Olumuyiwa Adejobi, on Tuesday identified the inspector captured in the video as Stephen Inumanu, attached to Igando Police Station, Lagos State.

According to the statement, Inumanu was deployed on a routine Stop and Search duty on September 18 around 1.15pm with two other team members at Isuti Road in Egan area of Lagos State.

Adejobi stated that while on duty, the team sighted two nervous young men, who took to their heels for the unexpected presence of policemen, adding that the team gave them a fierce chase and one Stephen Ade, ‘m,’ and 28, threw a micro wallet to his partner, who escaped in another direction; two of the policemen chased the escapee but to no avail.

“The attention of the Lagos State Police Command has been drawn to a trending Instagram video of an Inspector of Police from Igando Divison of Lagos State endeavouring to effect the arrest a man, and hereby wishes to make some clarifications on the issue.

“That the Inspector captured in the video is Stephen Inumanu, Inspector of Police, attached to Igando Police Station, Lagos State, was deployed on a routine Stop and Search duty on September 18 around 1.15pm with two other team members, at Isuti Road in Egan area, Lagos State.

“While on duty, the team sighted two nervous young men who took to their heels for the unexpected presence of police men but the team gave them a fierce chase and one Stephen Ade “m” 28 year old, threw a micro wallet to his partner, who escaped in another direction; then, two of the policemen chased the escapee but to no avail.

“In the spirit of cooperation,  Inspector Stephen Inumama,  was assisted by two spirited civilians (members of the public), who witnessed the episode, chased and arrested Stephen Ade, who refused arrest as captured in the video, but with the aid of the members of the public, he was subdued within the use of minimum force, without assault whatsoever, from the arm bearing inspector.

“The command wishes to state categorically that the trending video was borne out of mischief to discredit the collective image of the police by folks, who are uncomfortable with police presence or visibility of officers on the road or around them, regardless of how courteous the policemen and officers are.

“Without mincing words, the video was carefully edited by the sender to remove barrage of insults the suspect hauled on the police officer in the presence of civilians, as customary of mischief makers.”

The command urges the general public to regard the video as baseless and calculated attempt to malign the efforts of the Nigeria Police in maintaining law and order in the society, while the command reiterates its commitment to discharging its duties with diligence, human feelings and respect for the rule of law and human rights.