A Lagos police officer is facing widespread backlash after a viral video showed him assaulting a commercial bus conductor, triggering anger from commuters and social media users.
The video, recorded by a female passenger, captures the visibly enraged officer forcefully holding the tired conductor against a bus while multiple passengers pleaded with him to stop.
In the background, voices can be heard shouting, “Leave him! Do you want to kill him? He cannot run away!” One concerned woman urged bystanders to intervene, warning that the conductor appeared to be suffocating and calling for someone to fetch water to prevent him from collapsing.
Another passenger issued a stern warning to the officer, saying: “If this guy slumps in your hands, it won’t be the way you think. An elderly man is standing here begging you. If he dies, can you take him home?”
Barely able to breathe, the conductor repeatedly cried, “Help me, I don’t know what I did.”
Officer defends his actions
In response to the public criticism, the officer insisted that he did nothing wrong.
He alleged that the conductor had attacked him after a LASTMA official stopped the bus over a traffic offense.
According to him: “As a police officer, I came down and begged the LASTMA officer to allow him go.”
He added that he told the conductor to properly shut the bus door while carrying passengers, claiming:
“Before I knew it, this guy started beating me on my uniform. Even the driver told him not to beat a man in uniform.”
The officer also confronted the woman who filmed the encounter, accusing her of “supporting” the conductor, but later acknowledged that she was within her rights to record.
He said: “She has every right as a Nigerian to do her video. If I were doing something bad, I would collect the phone, but I’m not doing anything wrong.”
Renewed debates on police harassment
The incident has once again sparked conversations about police brutality in Lagos, with many residents urging authorities to take stronger action against officers accused of assault and abuse of power.
Watch the video below….