The Metropolitan Police have launched a probe into a viral video where an officer urged Nigerian women living in the United Kingdom not to report their husbands.
According to The Mirror, the Metropolitan Police Standard Unit disclosed plans to review the video where the officer cautioned the Nigerian wives to “manage” their domestic issues with their husbands at home.
This was revealed following an outrage by a children’s safeguarding group, Afruca, which condemned the video, adding that it would encourage domestic violence.
In the video seen by Saturday PUNCH on Wednesday, the police officer advised a gathering of Nigerian women to prioritise the upbringing of their children as he spoke in fluent Yoruba and English languages.
However, the UK newspaper reported on Friday that the event at Divine Restoration International Church in Camberwell was recorded in 2018.
Speaking about it, the Chief Executive of Afruca, Debbie Ariyo, said she became angry as the video encouraged domestic violence and sexual abuse detrimental to women and children.
Ariyo claimed that the video gagged victims of abuse to remain in abusive relationships and discouraged them from seeking police protection.
“When I heard it, I was livid. Like what do you mean? So if a man is abusing the woman, and don’t forget, domestic violence is always about physical abuse, and emotional even in terms of cultural practices, it’s a sexual issue – so if a woman is being abused in the home, she shouldn’t call the police because if she does, the man will be removed from the home and the children will spiral and it will be her fault,” Ariyo said.
“If a woman is being abused, you’re saying that women shouldn’t seek police protection. That was really bad of them, that’s just like minimising these issues in our communities. That Nigerians don’t really matter. Even children are victims in the home when domestic violence is going on.
“And so to hear a police officer who should understand the UK Domestic Violence Act of 2021, telling women that they shouldn’t call the police on their husbands, whatever the explanation is, it’s counterproductive. I felt it was an attack on Nigerian women.”
The Detective Chief Superintendent Seb Adjei-Addoh disclosed that the video had been referred to the professional standards team.
Adjei-Addoh added that the officer’s statements did describe the position of the Met Police, stressing that abuse would not be condoned in British society.
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