‘Fraud checks’ not licence to search phones, Kwara CP warns officers

By Anuoluwa Amao

Corps members serving in Kwara State have received a firm assurance from the state’s top police officer: their phones are off-limits to random searches, regardless of what excuse is offered.

Commissioner of Police Ojo Adekimi delivered the message during a visit to the 2026 Batch ‘B’ Stream II orientation camp, where he took direct aim at a practice that has long drawn complaints from young Nigerians serving across the country officers stopping them on the road and combing through their phones under the pretext of screening for internet fraud.

“No police officer should indiscriminately search through the mobile phones of corps members on the road under the guise of checking whether they are involved in internet fraud,” he told the gathered corps members, according to a statement released Wednesday by the command’s spokesperson, Adetoun Ejire-Adeyemi.

The visit itself was framed as a welfare check as much as a policy statement. Adekimi was received at the camp by NYSC state Coordinator Musa Kafarda, who praised the commissioner’s ongoing attention to the safety and wellbeing of corps members posted to the state and in turn, Adekimi used the platform to make a broader case for how his officers should treat the young graduates during their service year: as people entitled to courtesy and dignity, not suspects by default.

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That didn’t mean the corps members got off without their own set of expectations. Adekimi reminded them that they, too, carry responsibility as “leaders of today,” urging them to use their platforms social media included wisely, and to steer well clear of anything resembling digital thuggery or conduct that could stir up trouble in their host communities.

On security, he was direct: corps members deployed anywhere in Kwara can expect continued protection from the police working in tandem with other security agencies. Should that promise ever fall short whether through an officer’s misconduct or a genuine security threat Adekimi asked that they not sit on it. He pointed them toward the command’s dedicated reporting channels or the nearest police formation, and encouraged them to view the police less as an authority to fear and more as a partner they can turn to.

He closed the visit by commending the camp’s security team for keeping the environment safe, before sending the incoming batch off with wishes for a smooth orientation and a service year that leaves a lasting, positive impression on the communities they’ll eventually call home for the next twelve months.