A wise man once told me, “you would always find a crowd with a man telling a story of how he made it despite all odds; but nobody would care about a man telling a story of why he couldn’t make it because of the odds.” That wise man is my father, Alhaji Abdullahi Sani, a loving man and a father that lives by example, now an Assistant Corps Commander (ACC) of the Federal Road Safety Corps (FRSC).
Born to the family of Mallam and Mallama Mohammed Sani Idoko of Ajobe, a quiet community under Ojoku District in Ankpa Local Government Area of Kogi State, my father was, as people would describe it, a small town boy whose life was to follow the routines made out for boys his age in the village at the time. However, things were not going to go as usual as his father insisted he combined Qur’anic studies with Western education.
After completing his primary education with dedication and focus, he passed his Common Entrance Examinations and gained admission into Government Technical College Idah, where he studied Electrical Installations, specializing in Domestic and Industrial installations with certifications in Federal crafts, Labour Trade Tests and City & Guilds of London Institute.
While he came out of technical school with impressionable performance, there was just a little problem… he did not see himself becoming an electrician. At this point, I’d like to point out the importance of knowing oneself and having a vision of what one wants to be. In this case, the vision that my father had of himself was not the one that could limit him to the boundary of his state of origin alone.
To this end, he pulled out of kogi State and stirred to Lagos, where he got his first job with a salary of 200 naira per month. Interestingly, that was what he used in registering for the November/December 1987 West African Examinations Council (WAEC) Ordinary Level as a private candidate in his quest to prove what he wanted for himself in life.
The excellent results he recorded in the O’L GCE inspired him to immediately register with the Lagos Centre of the Adult Education Department of the University of Ibadan, where he sat for and obtained his Advanced Level GCE papers in Economics and Government in 1988.
It was in the process of deciding between pursuing his university education which had been his and accepting to marry the young girl that had been betrothed to him back in the village, who happened to be my mother, that he settled for a job with the FRSC as a Road Marshal. But of course, his limited educational qualifications on entry into the Corps was just the starting point for him.
Upon successfully completing the FRSC’s Basic Training program at the NYSC Orientation Camp, Efon-Alaye in the present Ekiti State, he was posted to Abuja to begin his service with the FRSC. But not someone that would easily forget his dream of pursuing university education, he quickly secured admission into the prestigious University of Abuja within the second year of commencing the service and entering into marriage.
With focus and determination borne out of race for self actualisation, he bagged his Bachelor’s degree in political science when my senior sister, Umma, was five years and I was just two in the same year that my own immediate junior brother, “Daddy Junior” was born.
With effective blending of work, marriage and pursuit of education, my father was already on senior Marshals’ rank by 2004 when he got his conversion to Officers’Cadre with his decoration to the rank of Deputy Route Commander (DRC) following his successful conversion course at the NYSC Orientation Camp Kubwa, Abuja during which he served afuns the Course Senior.
In his search for further education, and despite the challenges of work and family, he proceeded to the foremost military university in Africa, the Nigerian Defence Academy (NDA) Kaduna where he obtained his Master’s degree in Defence and Strategic Studies in 2008, when my most junior brother, Junior was just a year’s old.
Services in FRSC
Upon his conversion to Officers’ cadre in 2004, he was posted to Kaduna State Sector Command where he served in various capacities including Patrol Commander; Staff Officer (Operations), Personal Assistant to three Sector Commanders consecutively and been sector head of protocol unit. He had also served in other capacities such as been Personal Assistant (PA) to the Zonal Commander in Abuja and Deputy Director (Operations) at the FRSC National Headquarters; Acting Head of Unit Admin Officer as one of three Principal Marshals that opened the Gwagwalada Unit Command where I was born and later, as Duty Officer at the FCT Sector Command.
The loving father we all love to call, Dad, had equally served meritoriously as Media Assistant to two Corps Marshals before his deployment to the Corps Public Education Office at the FRSC National Headquarters Abuja, from where he got his recent promotion to the enviable rank of Assistant Corps Commander.
In the course of his service, Dad has participated in some special assignments in the Corps including membership of the Central Security Committee of the National Hajj Commission in the 2016 Hajj Operations in Saudi Arabia, which earned him a Special Letter of Appreciation. He had also served in the Security sub-Committee of the Commonwealth Heads of State Meeting held in Abuja in November, 2003 and honoured with some awards and Management Commendation.
The story of my father is not one which can justifiably be told with some short words, because, it serves as a source of inspiration for us his children as well as those that require inspiration to face the challenges of life. Among other things, his life has taught us to always push on and to not make excuses as to why a task was impossible to be completed. For at the end, anyone with determination to accomplish a task must find a way out, and not giving excuses for failure.
His marriage to my mother, Mrs Mariam Abdullahi( Mairo) which has endured three decades of understanding, support and solidarity remains a great lesson for all of us who are his children and all those that need example to be inspired to push on with the challenges of life.
While we all sat quietly in the hall watching the proceedings of his decoration to the new rank at the FRSC National Headquarters Abuja, on Tuesday, I was sharing in his reflections of the journey that led to that day.
Let me just say congratulations to my Daddy, Assistant Corps Commander Sani Abdullahi, the loving man that lives by example.
– Abdullahi Fatima, a graduate of economics, writes from Abuja.
