By Rotimi Fasan
My  father was, however, not a uniform wearing police officer or, rather he did wear the police uniform for a relatively short period. Most times he wore uniform but only to be photographed on attainment of a new rank. In the three decades or so he spent in the Force he worked in the inner sanctum of the investigative arm of the Nigeria Police at Alagbon Close in Ikoyi, Lagos.

He was precisely in the INTERPOL (International Police) section, an elite unit that gathered intelligence on narcotics, financial issues, robbery and other high profile civil or criminal cases in and outside the country. He was forever travelling around the country’s courts to ‘give evidence’ as he used to put it. Upon his passing there were at least two moderately-sized cartons of international passports used by him. He was part of a few important cases of our time.

As a young officer, he was involved in what is perhaps the most celebrated political case in Nigeria: the trial of Chief Obafemi Awolowo for treasonable felony. His name is memorialised in the account of this event chronicled by Chief Lateef Kayode Jakande, first civilian governor of Lagos State, in his The Trial of Obafemi Awolowo. He was a great admirer of Chief Awolowo and many years after the latter’s trial they would again meet in Makurdi during the presidential campaign of 1983 where father was involved in providing security for the presidential candidate of the Unity Party of Nigeria, UPN, on his last presidential campaign.

The meeting served to increase his respect for Awo, for, as he reported later, the old man could still remember him. A photograph of the two of them with my father walking slightly behind Awo, taken by an unknown photographer, used to be in our home.

As an inveterate diarist he kept records of his activities, especially his court rounds. In these diaries I would meet some prominent names in the Police Force, Inspector Generals, Commissioners, etc, in their early years as officers. There were also names, well-known and otherwise, in other spheres of national existence. One of the former was that of Fela Ransome-Kuti (this was in the early 1970s before the name change to Anikulapo-Kuti), the iconic Afrobeat musician whose use of marijuana pitted him against the law. A couple of Fela’s brushes with the state for substance use were prosecuted by my father while in Alagbon.

There are a few funny anecdotes of such Fela encounters with the Nigerian state better known by older members of our family. Always smartly dressed, either in shirts, jackets and ties or traditional Yoruba outfit with his dark, full moustache, one public person with whom I would later see striking physical resemblance was the founding editor of Newswatch magazine, Dele Giwa.

His generally reticent manner, not unusual for someone in his line of work, gave an impression of him as tough and severe. Not one to show emotion easily he was, nevertheless, an easygoing disciplinarian, both at home and work. Generally respectful and respectable, he stuck to the ‘straight and narrow’ path.

He was content with his lot, upright in duty and loyal to the noble tenets of the organisation for which he worked. There was no doubt he enjoyed his job, often going beyond the call of duty, as he would be woken up late at night to attend to issues of urgent importance at work.

He often said what he owed his children was sound education. He reminded any who cared to listen that he had done enough for the Force not to worry for what the end would be.

True to his word, when he passed on the Force mourned him deeply. They spared nothing within their means to ensure a proper and fitting burial with full honours for him, placing announcements in the media. There were elaborate funeral performances in Tiv, Igala and other indigenous languages by the local police in Ankpa, and locals lined the street in Makurdi and Ankpa as his remains and belongings processed out of town.

The then Commissioner of Police in Benue State, Parry Osanyande, broke down in tears while reading his funeral oration as he recalled their last meeting in hospital. Osayande would achieve national fame months after this funeral as the leader of the team that busted the armed robbery ring of Lawrence Anini, the dreaded robber that held Benin and its environs in thrall for months in 1986. Mr. Osanyande who retired as Deputy Inspector General has since done quite a lot for himself even as he tries to restore the Nigeria Police to its old professional glory in his present position as chair of the Police Service Commission.

On the family side, my father was not often directly involved in the day to day running of the house. He left that to my mother, only coming in when mother, with a mixture of blackmail and good old nagging, got him to respond to some issue requiring discipline of a child. On such rare occasions would he wield the rod which was what the matter called for then.

There was an element of awe in how we saw him and it was not unusual for us to stop all noisy or ‘irresponsible’ act the moment he was around. Otherwise, he rarely interfered in routine family matters, preferring to read his papers or listen to the radio in bed or watch the national news on NTA before turning in for the day. A sparing eater and reluctant socialiser, his not very regular visits to the officers’ mess were usually reserved for Fridays. Otherwise, he took an occasional beer from the stock he kept at home. In the 25 years since he passed on, my step-mother has also passed.

Otherwise, all, including my mother, have been in fairly good health and have more to be thankful for than complain about, except the hunger that generally pervades our country. The last and only female of the eight children he had, the one he nicknamed Queen, is today a mother of two young girls, aged three and one respectively, while the last but one child, my youngest brother, himself became a father about a month ago. Were he around now, he would be the grandfather of no less than 15 children.

In line with his quiet, modest ways, no drums were rolled out in noisy remembrance of him and no street was shut down last week. But there were prayers for the continued repose of a soul that was a worthy example of a father as hero.