Police Dismiss Officer In Viral Video Searching Commuter’s Phone

The Nigeria Police Force has dismissed another officer, Corporal Opeyemi Kadiri, nine days after he was caught on camera publicly assaulting a commuter in Lagos State.

Kadiri, attached to Dolphin Divisional Headquarters in Lagos Police, was de-kitted in Abuja on Friday for gross misconduct, disobedience to lawful order, and assault.

This website reported how the officer was captured harassing a male resident after he denied him access to search his phone.

The video captured by the victim also showed the officer threatening to break his phone despite repeated statements from the victim reiterating the Police ban on phone searching.

The dismissed officer with Force No. 509745 was enlisted into the Force in December 2016, nearly six years after and according to the Inspector-General of Police, IGP Usman Alkali Baba, his dismissal took effect on Friday.

“The Police hereby calls on officers and men of the Force to maintain professionalism and civility to members of the public in the discharge of their duties in line with extant laws.

“The Force equally calls on members of the public to ensure proper conduct in all encounters with police officers to avoid infractions which may be subject to prosecution,” a statement by the Police read.

The recent development takes the total number of dismissed officers to three in the last 15 days.

Recall that Nigerians, in a recent report by this website, asked the IGP to address the root causes of the continued misconduct by officers rather than resort to dismissal as a deterrent measure.

Many alleged that some officers behave unruly due to ‘substance intake’ that leaves them under the influence of illegal substances.