Policing in Nigeria: Social Media and the Emerging Trend

 Since independence, Nigeria’s security concerns have largely been internal, from her Civil War, Boko Haram Insurgency, and Niger Delta Question to sundry security issues. This has heightened the challenges and expectations of The Nigeria Police in combating crime as the chief internal security organ of the state. However, there remain public discontentment towards the Police owing to her bureaucratic bottlenecks, misrepresentation and misinformation, favoritism and nepotism amongst others. With the advent and patronage of online platforms such as Facebook, X (formerly Twitter), WhatsApp and Instagram by a large proportion of Nigerians, especially the youth, there is now a new wave of digital policing with the ‘writ of mandamus’ to the Nigeria Police and generality of Nigerians to act in good conscience, law and duty. The paper adopts Martins Vincent Otse, a Nigerian critic, activist and Social Media influencer, popularly known as VeryDarkMan (VDM) as a guide for analysis, to explore and describe the emerging trend of revolutionized online policing and the prospect for a reformed Police and faith in the administration of justice system in Africa’s most populous black nation.