A video showing a Metropolitan Police officer allegedly advising Nigerian women not to call the police on their husbands but to “manage it” is now under investigation after resurfacing on social media six years later.
The clip, filmed in 2018 at Divine Restoration International Church in Camberwell, London, shows the officer addressing mainly women, with three other officers standing beside him. The video has sparked outrage among abuse charities.
In the video, which was seen by the UK Mirror, the officer speaks in both Yoruba—a Nigerian language—and English. He talks about knife crime and how sons may prefer to listen to their fathers rather than their mothers. The footage then shows the officer allegedly saying that once Nigerian women arrive in the UK, they start behaving “rudely” towards their husbands and should not call the police on them but “manage it.”
The police confirmed to the UK Mirror that the footage has been referred to the Metropolitan Police’s standards unit for investigation.
Debbie Ariyo, Chief Executive of Afruca, a children’s safeguarding group, expressed her anger over the remarks. In a letter of complaint to the Met, Afruca stated that the officer’s advice was essentially “telling victims to stay in abusive relationships and not to seek police protection.”
Speaking to the UK Mirror, Debbie said: “[The officer said], ‘do not call the police on your husband, but manage it.’ 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 not always about physical abuse, 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.”
Debbie continued, “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.”
Debbie also highlighted the lack of attention to violence against Black women, pointing out that figures from the PA News agency show that of the 21 femicide victims recorded by the Metropolitan Police in 2022, nine victims (43%) were Black, which is higher than any other ethnic group. “We’ve been talking about violence against women but we haven’t talked about violence against Black women. Women in African and Caribbean communities,” she said. “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.”
Debbie added, “Coming from a police officer, where we see many police officers being convicted of hurting women, it’s the first thing I thought about.”
When approached by the Mirror, Detective Chief Superintendent Seb Adjei-Addoh said that the video had been referred to the professional standards team. He stated, “The incident reported relates to an informal talk by a police member of staff made at a church in Camberwell back in 2018. The comments made by the member of the police staff categorically do not represent the position of the Met in relation to domestic abuse and are wrong. There are no circumstances where it would be appropriate for a victim-survivor of domestic abuse not to report it to the police if they feel able to do so.”
He added, “Over recent years, the Met has developed a raft of dedicated investigation teams focused on domestic abuse. Within the boroughs of Lambeth and Southwark, we work in partnership with the local authorities and third-sector charities involved in VAWG (Violence Against Women and Girls) to ensure we have strategies to encourage domestic abuse reporting and support victim-survivors of domestic abuse.”
