tete7000:


You don't challenge people when you don't have what it takes to handle the consequence. Consequence e le gbemi eni.

Daboomb:


I think l am just very unlucky because l always pray that l should encounter one of these 'stop & search' my phone SARS team but so far, l have never been lucky!

My phones (One HTC, One Samsung and one old Iphone) are all passworded and they contain very, very sensitive information, including bank pincodes, passwords, e.t.c.

Infact, my phones are hte most important items l have and l guard them seriously.
I want to see how that SARS officer will force me to enter my Pin codes, to unlock the phone, by force, without a valid warrant.
And he can be sure that he will see a lot of foreign calls on it as my phones are not just for making audio calls but are my own business tool.

I guess they do a sort of 'profiling', based on your appearance or how you speak to them, to decide who to search.

Maybe l will be lucky one day sha.

johnmartus:

talk2percy:
dey shine teeth now, u think say nah laughing matter, wait till u encounter these illiterate monsters.

chukzyfcbb:

lool not always bro.

sometimes you need to comport yourself and cooperate. I have quite a number of foreign numbers I got from various WhatsApp study group I am in. and I haven't been asked before how I got them.

Most people have VPN on their phone, will you now say SARS will arrest one because he has the VPN app? it's all bout how you present yourself.

johnmartus:
bro I don encountered them once .

chukzyfcbb:

lool not always bro.

sometimes you need to comport yourself and cooperate. I have quite a number of foreign numbers I got from various WhatsApp study group I am in. and I haven't been asked before how I got them.

Most people have VPN on their phone, will you now say SARS will arrest one because he has the VPN app? it's all bout how you present yourself.

sybarite7:
This same issue came up sometime ago here on NL,but a police officer here on NL said its legal ,he goes by the name SUPOL

Here is a link to that thread
https://www.nairaland.com/3364127/does-police-constitutional-right-go/3#49583727

chukzyfcbb:

lool not always bro.

sometimes you need to comport yourself and cooperate. I have quite a number of foreign numbers I got from various WhatsApp study group I am in. and I haven't been asked before how I got them.

Most people have VPN on their phone, will you now say SARS will arrest one because he has the VPN app? it's all bout how you present yourself.

SUPOL:
D provisions of the police act and regulations empowers any police officer to stop and search anyone he suspects of any criminal activity. This includes his or her personal belongings.

cashlurd:



Bro, my advise to you is to stop praying for negatives. Nothing good comes out from those people. My phone too was passworded. I was ordered to unlock it. If you do not oblige, you may not live to tell the story. And when international calls start coming in, you become a yahoo yahoo boy automatically. Your End becomes almost inevitable. Do not do ITK with the Nigerian police. To be forewarned is to be fore-arned!

Daboomb:


You people just use words loosely, in a publci domain.
How is saying l have never been searched, amount to doing ITK?
But that is by the way.

What concernes me is WHY were you stopped in the first place, before they asked you to unlock your phone?
Where you engaged in a 'suspicious activity' ab initio, that warranted the attention on you or did they just pick on you randomly?

SUPOL:
D provisions of the police act and regulations empowers any police officer to stop and search anyone he suspects of any criminal activity. This includes his or her personal belongings.

Daboomb:


So, how do you arrive at that "suspicion of criminal activity"?
By dresscode?
By hairstyle?
Because that person is carrying Backpack?
Because the person is 'male and young'?
Because they have Tattoo or use ear-rings?
Because they are carrying a Laptop?

FYI, all the above can be found in very decent and honest people who have nothing to do with crime.
That means your "suspicion is SUBJECTIVE" and therefore unreasonable.

'Criminal activity' by itself are clearly defined in law, as unlawful acts or acts proscribed by law.
That means it is not a question of "suspicion", it is either that person is engaged in a criminal activity (which you must observe and identify clearly), or they are not doing anything criminal.

There must be a prema-facie case established, before you can suspect someoen of criminal activity.
For example, if someone is carrying an "unwrapped knife" in public, you can suspect of criminal activity because "it is not expected that they would carry such in public, without wrapping it up (showing that it is not ready for use, say incase of where it is just purchased).
That is the prema facie" that you require (a very definite and clear act) to then proceed to "Stop and search" the person.

But to just, out of some whim or hunch (which is usually driven by the need to harass extort them), ask somebody to stop for a search, especially the search of 'a very private property' like their phone, is just stupid and criminal on the part of any police man.

In saner climes, the Police usually work or do such things, based on 'advance intelligence'.
Our Policemen need to use more of their brain, use more of technology, intelligence gathering, analytics and similar modern tools of crime fighting to solve problem rather than be resorting to brutish and savage methods that portrays even them, as 'criminals in official uniform'.


BTW: Quote the section of the Police Act you are reffering to, for double verification and to 'dissect the context' of such powers, since laws are not made in isolation