Mr. Benjamin Hundeyin, a Superintendent of Police (SP), is the Lagos State Police Public Relations Officer (PPRO). Hundeyin usually shares information about police activities on social media and most times he tries to change the negative perception and narrative associated with the Nigeria Police Force. In the course of doing his job, he has been trolled, insulted, cursed and threatened as disclosed in this interview with JULIANA FRANCIS
Tell us a bit about yourself?
I am from Badagry Local Government Area of Lagos State. I attended Lagos State University for my first degree in English Language and my master’s Programme was at the University of Ibadan, where I studied Legal Criminology and Security Psychology. I joined the Police Force as a Cadet Assistant Superintendent of Police, and I am married with children.
Why did you choose police as a job and career?
I am a perfectionist. Sometimes I suspect that I have obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD), a disorder that makes one want to see everything done perfectly. I don’t want a single thing to be out of line, everything must be perfect. Growing up, it always irritated me to see people leave the traffic route and drive against traffic. It irritates me to see people jump a queue. I always wanted things to be in order and I couldn’t just force people to do things because I didn’t have any legal backing. So, I thought about it, and it dawned on me, that the police give one the power to make people fall in line and be in order without necessarily going against the law. So, I’ve always wanted to be a Police Officer. It was a bit discouraging when I saw that many policemen were not appreciated. It was discouraging, people would always look down on the police, so that moved me to be a police officer, it wasn’t that strong until I stumbled on the personality profile of the Late Inspector General of Police, Tafa Balogun. I read it and saw how educated he was, and I was impressed. I said to myself oh, so educated people are in the Force. I could be educated too and be a police officer, and so the interest was rekindled. I worked towards it, and I think God was just on my side. I tried once and I got it without having any Police Officer in my family, without the necessary connections people would say. I just got it, and that was how I became a police officer.
What is your greatest challenge as a command’s spokesman?
The greatest challenge I would say is having to speak when our men have clearly misbehaved. It is a big challenge; after you’ve said the police are your friends, police will do this, police will do that, and then our men misbehave and you must face the same people to tell them what happened and how it happened and why. We must apologise, and we have to look into it. So, it’s a big challenge. Beyond that, I would say another challenge I have, which is localised, is about being a spokesman in Lagos State. In Lagos State Police Command, phone call traffic is high. You pick people’s calls, and word goes around that, “oh that guy picks his calls, he’s so nice on the phone, oh he’s polite, he’d look into your matter,” after that, the number of phone calls we receive increases geometrically. It now becomes overwhelming, call after call, and messages, and I still must attend to emails in the office and you still need to attend functions. It tends to become challenging, but so far, I’ve been able to keep afloat. I’ve been able to maintain equilibrium.
What will you say is your greatest achievement as a spokesman?
My greatest achievement as a spokesman is yet to come, but so far, I’ve been able to break some barriers in terms of access to police officers. I’ve been able to break that illusion that “oh there’s a wide gap between the people and the police,” like they’re unreachable or inaccessible. I’ve been able to break that by publishing the phone numbers of all Divisional Police Officers (DPOs). It’s on my WhatsApp profile, it’s on my Twitter page, and for every opportunity I have, I share it. However, when things work for people, they don’t really talk about it, it is only when it doesn’t work, they complain about it. There are many people who have privately told me, “oh thanks for that list, I called this or that DPO and he sorted out my issue.” So I’ve been able to make people know that they have an access to our policemen. People tell me that I am the most accessible Police Public Relations Officer (PPRO), they know because I try to attend to messages, listen to people, enlighten them, disabuse their minds about certain things, and make them know certain things, which they do not know about the police. I believe that is my greatest achievement so far, bringing people closer to the police, maybe we’re not as close as we want, but still, the people are closer to us than they were before.
How do you handle fake news and fake journalists?
I know of fake news, but I don’t know which one is a fake journalist. A journalist could be a real journalist and still carry fake news because I’ve experienced one or two while in office. For me, I handle fake news by usually debunking it! Luckily for me, I’ve been able to create a formidable platform on Twitter, so my Twitter account is of interest to many people, who want to see what Ben has to say next. Some people will say, “oh let’s hear the nonsense he wants to say again.” But the good thing is that I use that platform to debunk fake news immediately after I come across it. In one extreme case, I had to send for a journalist, I had to write to the headquarters of that media house and tell them to release the journalist to come and answer questions bothering on spreading false information, but basically debunking it. We call out those that give fake news, we let people know the news is fake and this is the person responsible for the fake news. The way we name and shame our officers that misbehaves, I also let people know who is behind fake news so that they don’t run along with fake news.
How do you handle being called names and insulted on Twitter?
Initially, it was disturbing and at a point, I thought of logging out of Twitter. I thought of just leaving, but when people noticed a day or two of silence on my part, some people reached out to me saying, “we’ve not heard from you,” and I responded that those of them on Twitter were rude, they’ll tell me to ignore those rude ones and continue with what I was doing. They told me that there were many of them who enjoy the information I give out. They further said that they usually did not come out to support my opinion so that they wouldn’t be dragged.
They said that most times when they wake up, they first check my Twitter page, to see what I had shared. I have learned to ignore insults and curses too. It’s sometimes worse than you see. Sometimes people come to my inbox, send a private message, saying all sorts of rubbish. They abuse me, with some saying I would lose all my family members. They’ll rape all my daughters, that I would die.
I’ve learned to ignore them. When I see such tweets, I’ve been able to resist the urge to reply and I just delete the messages sometimes. But occasionally when I feel like catching fun I will respond. A few people have seen through me to know that this guy is catching a cruise. When I feel like catching fun, I just talk back at one or two people and then sit back and watch people’s responses. Some people will go “Oh you’re a spokesperson, you shouldn’t be talking that way,” and my supporters will come and say “why shouldn’t he talk that way, they’ve been abusing him since yesterday, you didn’t call the abuser to order, he now replied just once and you’re saying he shouldn’t talk that way.” So, by and large, I’m used to it. I’ve come to accept it as a price I have to pay for being the spokesperson for the police in Lagos State Command.
What is the most painful or horrible name or insult you’ve been called?
People have called me all sorts of names, everything you can imagine. Some say this guy is dumb, this guy is so stupid, how did this guy get this position, he must have lobbied, the system of Nigeria where you must know somebody like he is not deserving, he makes a terrible job of it, he’s a fool, he’s a mumu, he’s a this and that. But there’s one interesting name somebody called me, not because it’s horrible, not because it’s painful, but because it was new to me. I was like, wow, which one is this again? The person said I was a ‘Cretin’ and I checked the dictionary and I was like wow, only me, all these abuses. I found it interesting, in fact, I called my wife and said see oh, I have learned a new abuse today. They said I was a Cretin and we laughed over it. I think that one is memorable.
If you are not a policeman or spokesman and someone insults you, how will you react?
Oh, most definitely if I wasn’t a public servant, not just a police, and somebody abused or insults me, I’ll abuse the person back, immediately, in double fold. But the ethics of my profession, the ethics of the position I’m holding, do not allow me to engage in such behaviour and so I must play according to rules.
In a comparative analysis which is tougher, being a conventional policeman or a spokesman?
Well, I would say they’re both tough, being a policeman at all, is a tough job. If you do the right thing, people will say “he’s doing his job so why should I say well done or thank you.” You do the wrong thing and they come after you and say, “you can imagine, our police officer, see the way they’re behaving.”
Just wearing the uniform and being out there, makes you a target to criminals. If there’s a robbery, you’re the first target, you’re the first to be brought down. If you’re doing an investigation, powerful people will call you and say “Oh, let the suspect go, we will give you money or we will kill you or we will kidnap your children.” The good people will say, “Don’t let somebody use you.” Most times, I will be in a dilemma. I have to stay strong to take the right decision and then as a spokesman, it’s quite difficult, having to talk about negative things that have occurred.
There are moments of pride too when our men have done well, times when they cracked a case, times when arresting suspects, those times make me proud and I speak proudly. But for me, because I’m popular on social media, it has altered my lifestyle. Ordinarily, I would trek down the street to get something, but the last time I did that, to just trek down the street, people that were driving motorcycles recognised me. “Oh PRO,” I said to myself, no, I don’t want to be recognised everywhere I go. These days, if I go into a supermarket to buy something, nobody recognises me because I’m in mufti.
I always look different in mufti, but immediately I pull out my card to pay, and the cashier checks my name, Benjamin Hundeyin, he, or she goes, “Wow! You’re that Police Officer, I know you,” and I’m like, “Oh there we go again.” If that can be regarded as tough, then yes, that is a bit tough on me. In fact, to be frank with you, I love walking, and I love being free, but since I became PRO, I have had to choose and watch my movements carefully. There are certain places I do not go and there are people I don’t mix with.
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