The Police Force Public Relations Officer, CSP Olumuyiwa Adejobi has accused mischief makers of interpreting his tweet out of context.
Recall that while reacting on Saturday to a viral video where two men were seen wrestling with an armed officer, Adejobi had said “even if a policeman on uniform slaps a civilian, the civilian has no right to retaliate”.
“More so, if he’s on uniform, it’s an act of disrespect to Nigeria to beat an officer on uniform. The disrespect is not to the policeman but to our nation and it’s a crime as enshrined in our criminal laws,” he added.
Adejobi advised Nigerians who have suffered police brutality to file a complaint with the law enforcement agency instead of taking laws into their hands.
His statement was met with widespread backlash from Nigerians, with human rights lawyer and senior advocate of Nigeria (SAN), Femi Falana, calling for his sacking as Force PRO if he fails to apologise.
But in a statement on Monday evening, Muyiwa stated that his tweet warning citizens not to retaliate against an erring police officer was misrepresented in the media.
He stated that the police is committed to protecting the rights of citizens uniformed or not, urging the public to disregard malicious publications that read otherwise.