FIJ
On Saturday, social media platforms were awash with a now-viral video of Seun Kuti, an Afrobeat singer, assaulting a police officer.
In the video, Kuti, who donned a red top and a white pair of trousers could be seen charging at a police officer in uniform before slapping him.
He asked the police officer, who maintained calmness throughout the situation, if he was mad.
After the video gained traction on social media, many netizens criticised Kuti, saying he went too far. Others commented that the police would ridicule themselves if they failed to act on the issue because Kuti is a big shot.
Although the Inspector General of Police has ordered the arrest of the Afrobeat singer, some netizens have continued to support Kuti’s actions. This then begs the question, “At what point is it lawful to hit a police officer?”
IS IT LAWFUL TO HIT A POLICE OFFICER?
The short answer is no. Assaulting a police officer is a severe offence in Nigeria, known as a felony. By definition, a felony is traditionally considered a crime of high seriousness and is punishable in Nigeria without proof of previous conviction, with death, or with imprisonment for three years or more. Slapping a police officer is an assault and, thus, a felony.
According to Section 356 of the Criminal Code, a felony is a serious assault. The section goes thus:
Any person who
(1) assaults another with intent to commit a felony or with intent to resist or prevent the lawful arrest or detention of himself or of any other person; or
(2) assaults, resists, or willfully obstructs a police officer while acting in the execution of his duty, or any person acting in aid of a police officer while so acting; or
(3) unlawfully assaults, resists, or obstructs any person engaged in the lawful execution of any process against any property or in making a lawful distress while so engaged; or
(4) assaults, resists, or obstructs any person engaged in such lawful execution of process or in making lawful distress with intent to rescue any property lawfully taken under such process or distress; or
(5) assaults any person on account of any act done by him in the execution of any duty imposed on him by law; or
(6) assaults any person in pursuance of any unlawful conspiracy respecting any manufacture, trade, business, or occupation, or respecting any person or persons concerned or employed in any manufacture, trade, business, or occupation, or the wages of any such person or person, is guilty of a felony and is liable to imprisonment for three years.
SEUN KUTI’S CLAIM OF SELF-DEFENCE
After the video went viral, Kuti justified his action on Instagram, saying the officer tried to kill him and his family. In Kuti’s defence, his action was “self-defence.” But what is self-defence?
In EKPOUDO v. STATE (2021) LPELR-52826(CA), self-defence was defined as “the use of force to protect oneself, one’s family, or one’s property from a real or threatened attack. Generally, a person is justified in using a reasonable amount of force in self-defence if he or she reasonably believes that the danger of bodily harm is imminent and that force is necessary to avoid the danger.”
