Tribute to the Memory of Alhaji Muhammadu Gambo Jimeta IGP Rtd, mni, NPM
Dr Olayinka Balogun/
The recent demise of this fine, courageous and father figure officer has further depleted the ranks of Nigeria’s retired seasoned police officers. He was many things to many people and like the Elephant, which he was figuratively and physically, and the proverbial blind observers, he actually presented many angles to many who came close to him.
To many, IGP Gambo was the Conqueror of the notorious Anini and other ground-breaking events during his tenure as IGP. To me, it was one notable and unique Public Relations barrier which he removed to strengthen police public relations that endeared him to me as a young officer and the then Public Relations Officer (PRO) in the then Anambra State.
Sometime in 1986, I drove all the way from Enugu to the Force Headquarters in Lagos to collect the year’s Annual Police Calendars for my Command. That was the practice in those days. After waiting for my turn, for two days, I was given 25 Copies of the Calendar.
The situation set me thinking and wondering all through my trip back to Enugu. Twenty-five copies of the popular Police Calendars for the whole Anambra State Police Command and the state’s teaming population? It was the Anambra comprising today’s Anambra, Ebonyi and Enugu states. So as soon as I arrived Enugu I did a Memo to my CP Amos Dangana (of blessed memory) in which I painted a picture of undue restrictions and administrative clog on the issue of the production and distribution of Police Calendars, which I considered then as a major area of Police Community Relations Committee (PCRC) development and a veritable avenue to reach out and attract many into the police family and Community Policing, an idea and concept that was just developing at the time.
I also posed a question to him in the Memo, if the Force Headquarters could not print more copies, for whatever reasons especially finance what stopped Commands from printing their own under the auspices of the then nascent PCRC? My CP was interested but a bit taken aback and cautious. I was actually suggesting that we broke an existing tradition in a monolithic and rigidly hierarchical institutions like the Police. All the same he was excited by my proposition.
He then asked me to go ahead and present the modalities. So I quickly gathered some like-mind colleagues who were also my Course 9 Mates like Lawrence Alobi, Marvel Akpoyibo, (the two at various times also served as PROs in the Command) and Chinwe Asadu (also of blessed memory). The group, with my humble direction, designed the first ever Command inspired Police Calendar in the Force. For finance and expert advice, I approached and convinced a Public Relations Consultant in Enugu who agreed to finance, supervise and midwife the package. He went to work and two weeks later he brought a glimmering copy of Anambra State Command Police Calendar for 1987.
I took the copy to CP Amos Dangana. There was excitement on his face and in his voice. He approved the unprecedented innovation instantly. Then came the major obstacle. We were about to break a major tradition. The Inspector-General of Police must be informed carried along and his approval obtained.
The Commissioner sought my advice and I told him to take the specimen copy personally, directly to the IGP and explain the robust and unparalleled development the Calendar would bring to the relationship between the Police and members of the Public. I also advised him to meet the Force Public Relations Department, the Custodian of the power of producing and distributing Police Calendars so as to dispel any fear of rebellion, establishment disequilibrium or ‘over sabi’ syndrome on our part.
After an initial hesitation, my Commissioner decided to take the giant step. He personally took the specimen copy to Alhaji Muhammadu Gambo in Lagos, while I anxiously waited in Enugu.
My CP returned two days later with good news. IGP Gambo did not only expressed satisfaction at the innovation and quality of the Calendar he also suggested we arranged an official Launching Ceremony. He capped it all by promising to come to Enugu to personally present the Calendar not only to the Police but the entire PCRC family throughout the country.
Needless to say that I was elated and highly satisfied with this breakthrough. And, IGP Gambo actually came physically on the day to Enugu in 1986 to launch the first-ever Police Calendar that was not produced in Lagos. It was a memorable day for me in my career as a fledging Deputy Superintendent of Police (DSP) as the Command Public Relations Officer. I not only shook hands with the IGP, but I also received personal attention and admiration from him and other senior police officers in his entourage. His action, needless to say, opened the flood-gate of opportunities for all other police Commands and later the Zones which became emboldened to produce their own calendars, diaries and sundry police souvenirs.
The Public, of course, warmly and openly embraced and supported the venture. Till today, let me conclude by saying the late IGP Gambo Jimeta retained me in his memory over the years and our paths continued to cross especially during my long intermittent days as Principal Staff Officers to many IGPs. And, until his death and later during his ill-health period, I had on occasions interacted with him either physically or corresponded with through letters and the telephone. He was a courageous, jovial, fatherly and forward looking officer. A veritable Super Cop. His death brought to a close an Era in Police Existence and Establishment.
May the gentle soul of Alhaji Muhammadu Gambo Jimeta rest in perfect peace. May Allah grant him Aljannah Firdaous and condole both his nuclear family and the entire police family all over the Country.
