Onitsha, the commercial nerve of Anambra State, had its share of the riot that swept most part of the country on Thursday, October 22.
In the first few hours of the riot, almost all the police stations in the city were torched, except for about two – the Central Police Station and Fegge Police Station, all in Onitsha.
While the policemen at the Central Police Station scared the hoodlums with their superior firepower, the Fegge policemen did not fire any shot. Rather, it was the residents who came out to resist the hoodlums from attacking it.
At the Fegge Police station, the rioters abandoned their war songs and started chanting “we want Garba.”
They even have the DPO to speak with the young men and women.
He told them that any form of Police brutality won’t be accepted in the community and that SARS should be scrapped. The speech increased the chant of “we want Garba.”
First, it was a viral post on WhatsApp that tells the story of this DPO, Rabiu Garba, whose security philosophy resonates with the community.
TheNiche investigated the claims made in the WhatsApp post about the DPO and found them to be true.
So, what policing philosophy does this DPO, Rabiu Garba, adopt that makes him the champion of the people? And how come even when the riots were taking ethnic and religious slant, Garba, a Hausa man was celebrated by his Igbo neighbors in a country where ethnicity defines everything?
Here is the WhatsApp post which TheNiche has confirmed to be true about the policing philosophy of DPO Rabiu Garba.
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“Rabiu Garba is the Divisional Police Officer (DPO) at Fegge Onitsha. He built a borehole for the neighborhood 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 yesterday (October 22), 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 the 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,” the WhatsApp post said.
A lawyer, Remi Nwe, also corroborated the WhatsApp post about Rabiu Garba.
He said: “I am a practicing lawyer of over 12 years and I can confirm that Rabiu is my reason of saying that not all Police Officers are bad. Cases are treated on merit regardless of who you are. I have had clients released unconditionally and also had suspects charged to court after investigation. Rabiu is a fine officer and I doff my cap for him.”
This Feature Article Was Written With the Permission of the News Editor of the NICHE based in Lagos
