Nigeria Police Admits ‘Photoshopping’ Pictures of Suspects

December 2, 2020
Police Photoshop suspect picture

By Dipo Olowookere

The Nigeria Police Force has admitted that it photoshopped pictures of suspects posted on its social media handles on Tuesday.

The lead agency for maintaining internal security in Nigeria had announced yesterday that its operatives apprehended some criminal suspects with arms. Their photos were posted along with the information.

However, the eagle eyes of some Nigerians spotted some anomalies in the images posted by the police and concluded that it was photoshopped.

On Wednesday, spokesman of the police, Mr Frank Mba, issued a statement on the matter, admitting that the pictures of the suspects were taken separately and merged into one “for a seamless understanding of the storyline.”

However, Mr Mba emphasised that the decision to photoshop the image was not to falsify the information or misrepresent or deceive members of the public.

To set the record straight, in the case involving one Talatu Ibrahim, female, 40years old from Shinkafi LGA, Zamfara State from whom six (6) AK49 rifles were recovered and one other, Duleji Alhaji Abubakar a.k.a Ori jeje who gets arms supply from her to carry out series of kidnapping and armed robbery in Kwara State, the pictures are an authentic and true representation of the suspects and exhibits. However, the pictures were taken separately and merged into one screen for a seamless understanding of the storyline. The arms showcased in the picture were the exhibits recovered by Police operatives from the suspects.

“Similarly, with respect to the photo of the re-arrested inmates who escaped from lawful custody at the Oko Correctional Centre, Benin City during the #EndSARS protests, one of the suspects, Alhaji Hudu Musa a.k.a Mai Cellular, had already been taken out for investigation purposes at the time the group picture was taken on December 1, 2020, a day after the public parade of the suspects.

“His picture was, therefore, taken separately and merged with the three others in the group picture for presentation purpose and to enable readers and viewers have a one-stop glance of the suspects in the story for easy follow-up and understanding,” he explained.

Mr Mba further stressed that, “It is imperative to state that editing photographs only becomes unethical or condemnable if the purpose is to create non-existing facts, misrepresent the facts or engage in outright falsification of the images or figures for purposes of deception or other ulterior goals. None of these was the case in the above two scenarios.”

“The Force, therefore, enjoins members of the public to discountenance reports and comments that the images were falsified,” he added.

Dipo Olowookere

Dipo Olowookere is a journalist based in Nigeria that has passion for reporting business news stories. At his leisure time, he watches football and supports 3SC of Ibadan.

Mr Olowookere can be reached via [email protected]

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