The outgoing Divisional Police Officer (DPO), Onitsha Central Police Station, Rabiu Garba, has said that Ndigbo and Anambra people lavished love on him in his 15 years of service in South East.
He said the enormity of love showered on him has erased any iota of ethnicity and premodial sentiment in his relationship with people whether in his official or private capacity
Garba who spoke amidst euphoria of his decoration as an Assistant Commissioner of Police (ACP) said Ndigbo and Anambra people in particular have shown him love beyond measure even beyond what his own people in Bauchi State would not have shown him.
He said the height of the love was during the End SARs protest when other officers and Policemen were being hunted to be butchered and Police Station torched, the same people protected him, his officers and the Fegge Police Statation where he was serving then.
Garba who has now been posted to Kaduna State Police Command as Assistant Commissioner of Police in charge of X Department said members of Fegge community volunteered to protect the Police Station as long as the protest lasted.
“They were cooking at the station, while some kept vigil throughout the nights and made bonfires as a way of keeping them awake,” he said.
On the day he was carried shoulder high by the same protesters who were killing Policemen, Garba said what he did was to say his last prayer. “Infact, I went to the land of death and returned but when they dropped me and I returned to my office, it was like I ressurected from death”.
Garba could not forget two grand parents from Enugu who came all the way to Onitsha to give him N4000 as an appreciation for donating blood to their grand son at Borromeo Hospital, Onitsha.
The Police Officer said he was touched by their show of appreciation that he gave them a generating set, saying that he donated blood to save the young man since it did not pose any threat to his health.
Another woman, he said, carried a bunch of plantain all the way from Owerri in Imo State to him at Fegge when he was DPO there.
The Police officer said these are just few of the show of love showered on him by the people while he served in Anambra State.
But he was quick to point out that in showing human face in his work, he does not in any way compromise his official duty, rather he ensured that crime and criminality were eradicated or reduced to the barest minimum.
Garba said he was fair but firm, saying that he does not spare any criminal anywhere he is found.
The officer who was decorated on Wednesday at Zone 13 Police Command Ukpo, Anambra State said leaving Anambra State was difficult for him but he had to go to serve the Police and the country in other place.
Garba enjoined his friends and admirers to continue to extend hands of fellowship to his colleagues and the entire Police community in Anambra State.
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