BBNaija’s Khafi Kareem Facing Misconduct Probe With UK Police For Participating In TV Show ‘Without Authority’

By Florence Cornelius On Apr 26, 2022

Khafi Kareem, a former housemate of reality TV show, Big Brother Naija, is facing a misconduct probe at the UK’s Metropolitan Police over her appearance on the show, it has emerged.

According to BBC, the misconduct hearing held on Monday at Met Police’s Empress Building in West London for Khafi participating in BBNaija ‘without authority’ in 2019.

After coming to Nigeria in 2019 for the reality TV show, Khafi, a police constable at the Met Police, spent 77 days in the Big Brother Naija house before she was evicted.

Following the show, Khafi went on to marry a fellow housemate, Gedoni Ekpata and they have a son.

During the hearing, it was reported that Khafi denied allegations of breaching standards in respect of “orders and instructions” and “discreditable conduct” and failing to declare a business interest in relation to publicity and promotion of the show.

Kareem also revealed that she took and surrendered her laptop to organisers of the reality TV show.

The Met police officer had told her superiors she wanted to appear on Big Brother Naija to “promote the Met Police” globally.

PC Kareem, who has over 1.4m followers on Instagram, asked for unpaid leave in 2019 to appear on the show, saying she saw it “as a chance to promote the Met on an international basis“, the panel was told.

However, her line managers felt it was not within the best interests of the officer or the force.

Anne Studd QC, for the Met Police, told the tribunal;

Having seen the UK episodes of the show, concerns were raised. But, PC Kareem said Naija was not like the UK version. She saw it as a chance to promote the Met on an international basis. Looking at the website and information provided, Ch Supt Jason Gwillim concluded it was not in the best interests of the Met or the officer and it would put her in a compromising situation.

Studd stressed;

He explained the rationale and stressed she was not to take part in the show. Gwillim’s impression was that PC Kareem was disappointed but understood. She took the period of unpaid leave.

Although permission for the leave was granted, she was told not to take part in any further auditions, interviews or shows, the hearing was told.

On June 30, PC Kareem texted Deputy Assistant Commissioner Matt Twist and later called him to say that she had travelled to Lagos to take part in the show, BBC reports.

Deputy Assistant Commissioner Matt Twist told the misconduct hearing he had been called hours before PC Kareem went on the show.

Twist told the tribunal in west London that he had “never been faced with these circumstances before” and felt it was “most unusual” a PC was contacting someone of his rank on a weekend.

He explained he was aware of previous decisions to refuse PC Kareem’s request to go on the TV show and said he wasn’t in a position to review any decision on a Sunday.

Twist said;

I got the impression she was phoning hoping I would change the decision. I got the fact she was in Nigeria I got the strong sense she was going to do it, but she did not say as much.

Twist said his core concerns were over PC Kareem’s mental health, the Met’s public image and her conduct within the house.

He expressed;

I was worried about her mental health, we have no ability to support or intervene in the Big Brother house. We had no idea what security was in place around the Big Brother house and something awful could happen there or she could be targeted as a serving constable.

He added;

Over the years a number of people who come out of the Big Brother house are reported in the media to have suffered mental health issues. Knowing the UK version, this is something we wouldn’t want a serving officer appearing on.

The tribunal continues.

Via BBC.

BBNaija 2019 Khafi Kareem