From Molly Kilete, Abuja
Dr Sadiq Abubakar is the commissioner of police in charge of the Federal Capital Territory(FCT).
As a child, his ambition was to become a teacher because of his love for the profession as exhibited by teachers in those days.
But while in the secondary school, Abubakar witnessed a riot at Falgore Resort forest in Kano State that resulted in the attack of innocent persons and disrupted movement of persons and vehicles.
The situation which got out of control forced the government to deploy mobile police personnel to the scene to restore normalcy.
And within some few minutes that the mobile police personnel arrived at the area, he said they arrested the situation and restored law and order.
That singular action by the mobilemen, he said, forced him to change his mind of becoming a teacher to join the police.
He had said to himself that if these people had the powers to bring the terrible situation under control within some few seconds, then he would want to be like them.
Upon completion of his secondary school education, he applied to join the police and got enrolled into the police training college.
After his graduation, he was posted to the FCT, and has since served in various departments and underwent several trainings just as he has risen to the rank of Commissioner of Police.
A member of the National Institute, Abubakar holds a bachelors degree in geography in education, a Masters degree in educational psychology and PhD in educational psychology.
As the commissioner of police for the nation’s seat of power, Abubakar is saddled with the responsibilities of providing adequate security of life and property of residents, as well as to rid the city of criminals.
A native of Kano State, the police commissioner spoke about his life as a police officer, his experiences, family, and the readiness of the police in the forthcoming general elections, among other issues. Excerpts:
MY JOURNEY INTO THE POLICE FORCE
I joined the police out of passion to contribute my quota to creating a peaceful and stable environment for political, economic and socio-political development of the country. My journey into the Police Force started in my days in the secondary school when I saw some mobile policemen in their uniforms and how they were moving and on inquiry, I was told they were mobile policemen. On this particular day, there was a serious problem around the Falgore Game Reserve in Kano State and people could not have access in the area and the mobile policemen were deployed to quell the situation and within a few minutes that they arrived in the area, they stabilized the the security and people were able to go about their normal activities.
That particular incident inspired me and from that moment I made up my mind to be like one of them so that I can also do to same for my country and I never deviated from my focus.
I never deviated from my ambition of becoming a police officer after that incident. I was focused on making it and I have been achieving that aim as a police officer.
LIFE AS A POLICE OFFICER
It has been interesting at the same time challenging because when you are determined you can subdue whatever thing that comes your way with efforts and practice. My life as a police officer has been that of a professional because the police has some guiding principles and I try as much as possible to work with those code of conducts. And that has been my driving factors in the force.
POLICE OFFICERS AND ACADEMICS
The insinuations that there are no educated people in the police is not true. We have most of the educated people in the Nigerian Police Force. The police have given opportunity to officers and personnel to develop themselves and I used the opportunity to develop myself. I have been a teacher and teaching has been my passion. As a police officer, most of the things I do have to do with training.
I made sure that whatever I was doing is something that will help me in the course of my duty. I had a first degree in geography in education, and second degree was in masters in educational psychology and my PhD was in educational psychology. So, you can see that I was still teaching and at the same time, the psychology helped me in the discharge of my responsibilities as a police officer.
CHALLENGES
There is not much challenges for me as a police officer. I started my career as a police officer in the FCT and in my days as a young police officer, you were given a task and the senior ones would watch to see how you develop. So, the challenge then was how do I achieve this task and I have this passion that whenever I am given any responsibility, I try as much as possible to achieve result. And so speaking about challenges, Abuja as you know is a cosmopolitan city. Cosmopolitan in the sense that it is the capital of the country so you have influx of people from various parts of the country into the FCT. And because of that, the dynamics of crime will definitely change as time progresses, that is the trajectory of crime dynamics. It changes as the FCT changes. So, in those days, there was no much population and you can even count the number of vehicles on the road when we were newly posted in 1994. There was not much in the FCT, but you can see now that before you reach one part of the city, you waste a lot of time because of high traffic and the large number of people on the road. The police job has a guideline and if you follow the principles and you follow the guidelines you won’t have any problems. But if there is any at all, I will say it is that of the public understanding of what the law is. They say ignorance of the law is not an excuse. Sometimes you see people who are well read and yet committing some offenses that are ordinarily supposed to have been committed. For example, beating the traffic light. You have no reasons beating the traffic light. If the light has shown you the red light, you stop. Another issue is that of people taking one way when they are not supposed to follow that way and if you talk to them, they shout and tell you who they are and who they are not. So, these are some of the challenges.
MARRIAGE
I met my wife before gaining admission into the police college and we got married after my training. Interestingly, my wife even attended my passing out parade and she was so happy. When we started our relationship I was not yet a police officer, but by the time I completed my training we agreed to get married and she also supported my ambition of becoming a police officer.
BRIBE
There is no need for me to take bribe as a police officer because I am contented with the little that I have. And I always have problem with people with this situation. People will come to me, to police officers, saying give me money, my children are sick, I need to pay school fees, I need to pay my house rent, I need money for this and that and all of that. Where do I get the money from? And it is the same people who ask you for money that will accuse you that you are corrupt. So, that is the issue. The truth is that I don’t even need to take bribe and there is no need for me to give because what I have as my salary is enough to take care of me and my family.
ELECTIONS
SADDEST DAY
Yes, the elections are very close and I can tell you that the FCT Police Command is well prepared. We have already conducted a survey on all the polling units, we have enlightened all our officers and we have also enlightened those who would provide support services. The sister agencies, the military, the Customs, Immigration, Civil Defence, Fire Service, among others, have been briefed and we have always been communicating and coming together to fashion out how we are going to carry out our duties successfully without hitches. So, I am confident to say that we are on top of the game and we are well prepared for the elections. Even though we do not envisage any problem, I can tell you that human beings are the most difficult animals on earth you can never predict them. But based on the preparations that we have on ground and what the IGP and other sister agencies have made, I don’t envisage any problem, things will move smoothly and I am sure INEC too on its own side has done a lot and there has been a lot of public enlightenment on how people should vote and how to behave and I believe members of the public are now better informed. So, my assurance to residents of the FCT is that they should come out and exercise their rights as citizens of Nigeria. Security has been arranged and everything that will make it possible for everybody to vote has been made possible. So, I encourage them to be orderly, obey the rules and come out and exercise their rights as voters.
My saddest day as a police officer was the day I was on operations and one of my boys was killed in front of me. The two of us were targets of the criminals, but I escaped and I really didn’t know how it happened other than to say God was on my side. God spared my life that day, but the young man was killed so it was a really sad moment for me that I cannot forget.
HAPPIEST DAY
I have many happiest days. Whenever I go on operations and succeed, that day is usually a very happy day for me. So, it’s like I am happy everyday in the police.
LEISURE
I know the police job is very tasking, but I try as much as I can to spend the little time that I have with my family because I trained them to know that I am a police officer so any little time that I have, I use it very well to be with them. And they are always around me so even if it is just 10 minutes that I have, I spend the 10 minutes with them.
HOBBIES
I love cooking and mountain climbing. There is no food that I cannot cook. I can cook Jollof rice, rice and stew, and right now I am learning how to fry Akara. But I am telling you that I can cook any kind of meal and it all started when I was a little boy.
BEST FOOD
Jollof rice with palm oil