DPO Rabiu Garba: A Breath of Fresh Air -By Peter Agba Kalu

A friend who lives at Onitsha told this story and it was a refreshing departure from the usual narrative, considering the harrowing experience of the past week.

Rabiu Garba is the Divisional Police Officer (DPO) at Fegge Onitsha. He built a borehole for the neighbourhood without any fundraising.

He organizes soccer tournaments for the youths of Fegge at their stadium where he also goes to play table tennis weekly.

For Rabiu Garba, Fegge is his home. Fegge is his community.

He has attended almost every church and every event in the area as he is invited because he is accepted as one of them.

When the rampaging youths came to burn his Police Division last week, he neither fought nor fled.

While his men panicked, he walked out to meet the mob with the courage of a man who had nothing to fear.

They recognized him and the angry chants were silenced! Most of the youths could vouch for him as a professional cop and a role model for many young men in the community.

They even granted him audience to address and counsel them before the mob dispersed.

It had nothing to do with his tribe.
It had nothing to do with his religion. He was just a model cop.

We are first humans before anything else.

Thank you, DPO Rabiu Garba.