How Police Violated NITDA Code by Publishing Opinion Piece

The Nigeria Police Force published opinion pieces on its official Social media channels on Saturday, contravening National Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA) guidelines.

According to NITDA’s 2019 Framework and Guidelines for the Use of Social Media Platforms in Public Institutions, which is a regulation document of how Nigeria’s public institutions should use official social media accounts, the opinion piece from the police is unprofessional and goes against prescription.

Section 3.2 (ii) of the NITDA guideline clearly speaks against the Police posting this opinion piece.

Government officials, in using Social Media, shall not publish personal opinions on official Social Media accounts.

In a continuous series of exchanges between the Nigeria Police Force and Omoyele Sowore, a Nigerian politician and activist, the force took to its X page on Saturday to post an opinion piece that directly attacked the person of Sowore, labelling his criticism of its Inspector General as efforts to “destabilise the country”.

The 830-word opinion piece claimed that Sowore built his entire career on “harassing, defaming, and undermining the Nigeria Police Force, particularly its leadership”. It also claimed that Sowore’s activism was a pretence to make himself look the hero.

One of the occurrences the opinion piece referenced was a recent video posted by Sowore himself where he refused to park his car in an attempt to refuse extortion from a policeman. The piece also mentioned Sowore’s pronouncement of Kayode Egbetokun as an “Illegal IGP”.

On the other hand, the opinion piece extolled Egbetokun, especially for his decision to file charges of defamation against Sowore, rather than resorting to “violence or intimidation”. This is similar to what Yusuf Adamu Gagdi said on a TV programme when he praised the police for not using their AK47 rifles on Sowore.

“In this case, which I expect you to even mention, to appreciate the current police. They have the force, they have AK47 [rifles], but they decided to take the matter to court for the third arm of government to interpret the position of the law and do justice to either Sowore or the police,” Gagdi said live on television.

Many Nigerians also had reservations about the opinion piece on the police’s official page.

“My worry is, why is the official handle of the Nigerian police being used to share opinions by citizens? Can’t we learn to between institutions for the country and allegiance to an individual?” Akintunde Babatunde commented.

“The lowest of lows. Can’t believe this is an official handle of the Nigeria Police Force. Shameful,” Queen Bee said.

“This is appalling, coming from the handle of the Police force. Though, I am far from surprised, knowing how tribalism and nepotism have eaten deep into the fabric of all facets of Nigeria society. The Police, once again have shown why they are just another armed group,” Oketa, another X user, wrote.

FIJ