By Charles Igbo
For 94 year-old Dame Stella Obuoforibo Okuyiga, it is a story of better late than the late. Recognition and vindication came to her just at the twilight of her life. And she savored and basked in it.
Her story is one of those injustices meted out to upright people, to those who serve their country with pride, heart and mind. And it is one of the drawbacks of a Military Regime.
She was one of the courageous women who enlisted into the Police Force in 1955 – 69 years ago.
Out of dint of hard work, she rose to the rank of a Deputy Commissioner of Police. Her joy knew no bounds the day she was promoted to the enviable rank. But the joy was quickly cut short – for doing her job, for being competent.
It started the day she arrested a serving High Court Judge for breaking a traffic law. That was at the time when the Supreme Military Council held sway under the then General Olusegun Obasanjo Military Regime.
All entreaties made to her to bend the law were in vain. She insisted that the Judge must be prosecuted the same way as any other traffic offender.
Her decision did not sit well with the powers-that-be, some of whom she refused to listen to. She was asked to drop the case or face a severe disciplinary action. She chose the later. The SupremebMilitay Council asked that she be dismissed without benefits.
But the then Inspector General of Police, Adamu Suleiman, weighed him. Just so she doesn’t lose everything, including her years in service, IGP Suleiman advised her to resign voluntarily. She did.
Nobody remembered her again. She was completely forgotten and ignored and neglected by the Police for sticking to justice and fairness.
But this other day in Porthacourt, Rivers State, where she lives, somebody remembered her. It was no less a person than the very hardworking Commissioner of Police, Rivers State – Olatunji Disu.
Taking time out of his very busy schedule, CP Disu visited the retired DCP Dame Okuyiga in her home. And she was filled with joy.
Her reaction to Disu’s visit was emotional. She said:
“When I called the CP, to appreciate him and pray for him, I couldn’t control myself but burst into tears of joy for this unique and singular godly act of CP, Disu, that is not known in the recent past in the Force, because in the recent past, Police officers both high and low treat their retired colleagues like lepers.”
