On Saturday morning, policemen in Benin, the Edo State capital, assaulted Clinton Edobor, a motorist resident in the city.

In a video circulating on social media, the policemen can be seen hitting Edobor’s phone and asking why the motorist was recording them. Edobor responds, saying he had to record them searching his vehicle.

They manage to knock the phone off his hands and drag him into their vehicle as he calls for help. While this is ongoing, the men insult Edobor and question his rights to record them in public.

The clip runs for 100 seconds, but Edobor says his experience with the police lasted for longer as they arrested him, fabricated a statement in his name and came short of killing him on the road and in detention.

“In the process of making the video, they rushed me, threw my phone away and started beating me,” Edobor told FIJ. “They slapped my ear. One of them pressed my neck with all his might. I thought I was going to die. I was shouting for help, but no one came to my rescue.”

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He said the day started when the police stopped his vehicle during a routine stop and search operation and requested his documents, which he provided, but they insisted on keeping him and other motorists there for further search.

After his arrest, the police took him to their station, prepared the statement and had another motorist write a statement as a witness.

Edobor said, “They took me to a room there and the officer who almost strangled me to death kept throwing tantrums at me, threatening that he would kill me and nothing would happen. He said they should not allow me to go home, that he wanted to put a stain on my name as an ex-convict, and that I had to sleep in their cell.

“One of them wrote a statement on my behalf, asked for my name, wrote everything and asked me to sign and write the date. He took my friend’s statement too. The superior amongst them said before I left, a family member needed to be present, so I called my uncle since my dad is no more. He came, and they changed the whole story for him. My uncle started apologising to them, and they allowed us to leave.

On Sunday, FIJ called Chidi Nwabuzor, spokesman for the Edo Police Command, and he said he would investigate the matter.

Assaults on Nigerians who film policemen on duty have become a regular occurrence. On December 14, 2023, Muyiwa Adejobi, Force Police Public Relations Officer (FPRO), tweeted, “You can video or take pictures of policemen on duty. We have said it severally [sic]. There is nothing wrong with that.”

Despite this position, policemen continue to assault people who film them in public.

Ojukwu is a reporter with FIJ in partnership with Report for the World, which matches local newsrooms with talented emerging journalists to report on under-covered issues around the globe.