Nigerians on social media have accused the Nigerian Police of sharing photoshopped images of criminal suspects, a claim the Police has clarified. 

It all began on Monday, December 1 when the Nigeria Police share two pictures. The first was images of rearrested inmates who escaped from jail during the endsars protests, while the second was an image displaying a man accused of armed robbery and kidnapping and a woman who he gets arms supply from. In the image, the suspects seemed to be standing together with arms displayed in front of them as exhibits.

However, Nigerians were quick to point out anomalies in the images as proof that the photos were photoshopped.

“Where is the rest of the color on the ground wall between the man’s arm. Why is the woman not reflected on the window? Why does the man’s head have white outline? Why are the guns blurry (feather editing),” Twitter users asked. 

Where is the rest of the color on the ground wall between the man’s arm.

Why is the woman not reflected on the window?

Why does the man’s head have white outline

Why are the guns blurry (feather editing) pic.twitter.com/dPhv99ce2n

— #EndSARS Ifemidayo (@IFM4real) December 1, 2020

As questions around the photos grew, many Nigerians began to insinuate that the suspects were probably innocent.  

However, the Nigeria Police on Wednesday evening released a statement titled Photos of suspects shared on NPF official handles not falsified. 

The police shared videos of the parade of the suspects’ earlier to prove that the suspects were not falsely accused but admitted that the images shared were “edited”. 

The police explained that “the pictures were taken separately and merged into one screen for seamless understanding of the storyline. The arms showcased in the picture were the exhibits recovered by Police operatives from the suspects.

Below is a statement from the police. 

PHOTOS OF SUSPECTS SHARED ON NPF OFFICIAL HANDLES NOT FALSIFIED The attention of @PoliceNG has been drawn to comments in the social media erroneously suggesting that the photos of the suspects shared on the Police handles on 1st December, 2020 were falsified.

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The Force wishes to state categorically that there was absolutely no misrepresentation or any intention whatsoever to deceive members of the public.

To set the record straight, in the case involving one Talatu Ibrahim, female, 40 years 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 authentic and true representation of the suspects and exhibits.

However, the pictures were taken separately and merged into one screen for seamless understanding of the story line. 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,7one 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 1st December, 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.

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. Kindly find attached videos of the parade of the suspects with pressmen in attendance on 30/11/2020.

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