IGP Adamu, right, decorating Frank Mba with his new CP rank

By Adeola Agoro

One day in 2011 shortly before I became a full time resident of Abuja, I was driving from Agege Capitol Road towards Akowonjo.

There is this small road by a bottling company to join the expressway. I thought it was a fast link between the Egbeda expressway and I turned iinto it. I was stopped by some policemen who told me it was a one-way.

They asked for my drivers license etc and asked me to ‘clear’. I was furious. I argued with them. Meanwhile, I was running late for a meeting. I gave them a piece of my caustic tongue and tbey said they had to go to their station.

Adeola Agoro

I then showed them that I had ‘power”. Frank Mba was the Police PRO for Lagos State then. A few month before then, he had come quietly to the launch of my book; Hearts with Adeola Agoro: Foreword by Sen. (Mrs.) Oluremi Tinubu. And he had left quietly. If Bisi Olumide had not seen him, I mignt never have known that he came.

So, I called him and angrily reported his people. He spoke with them and because the speaker was loud, I heard him apologising to them on my behalf and telling them he would train me on how to talk to officers. And that was exactly what he did.

I was lectured like a small child that day. He told me he knew I would have begged them to let me go if I wasn’t a journalist and if I didn’t know him.

That lesson has stayed with me till today. Anytime I see officers, I greet I them well and talk to them with respect. I state my points clearly and I always get back respect.

Frank and I have remained friends since then. We try to keep in touch as often as the dictates of our jobs allow.

When I called him last night, as busy as he is, he answered my call at the first ring and in his cool voice said, “How are you Adeola?” We chatted for a while and I hung the phone.

Please join me in celebrating my friend and brother, Frank Mba for his new rank. He is now a Commissioner of Police. He rose to that level after a few years of being the PPRO at the Federal level.

Helping to celebrate him will go a long way in appreciating him.

Thank you.

-Adeola Agoro, journalist, businesswoman and public affairs analyst, writes from Abuja