A quintessential cop takes the final salute: Don Awunah (1963-2022)

I was woken up by the distinct voice of my son, Oluwatobiloba, morning Monday, May 23, 2022. He called me by his patented nickname for me, Dadss. Wiping my eyes as I roused from sleep, I hailed him in return, “Tobss, good morning. Hope all is well. Your friends, Compol Olofu and Dr Nyitse have been trying to reach you. When you were not picking up your calls, they called me”. My eyes which were still drowsy lit up immediately. I reached for my phone, spontaneously. I discovered that between my friends, Tony Olofu, a commissioner of police, and Tivlumun Nyitse, chief of staff to the Benue state governor, I had grossed six unanswered calls, so early in the day. My heart skipped a few beats. I prayed it wasn’t what I feared.

Our mutual friend, Don Awunah, a serving assistant inspector general of police (AIG), had been indisposed and bedridden for nearly two months. Olofu attended a two-day conference on internal security, convened by the inspector general of police (IGP), and co-hosted by the Akwa Ibom state government in early February. The programme was attended by senior officers from the rank of commissioners of police, and those above them. Olofu participated in the event and interacted with Awunah. He reported to me on his return that Awunah was not his characteristic ebullient self and he, Olofu, was concerned. In the line of seniority in the police, Awunah was the most senior officer from Benue state, while Olofu is next to him from the same state.

Results from initial tests suggested he was either afflicted by tuberculosis or lymphoma. We took turns to visit him regularly, to check up on his progress and cheer him up. Nyitse shuttled diligently from Makurdi to Abuja each time he had to see Awunah, while my being in Abuja availed me more regularity by his bedside. He opened his eyes and stared at me the last time I saw him, without saying a word. His trademark clean-shaven face, traditionally spick and span, had rapidly succumbed to unusual patches of grey. His wife, Dooshima, was quite agitated on that occasion, wondering if he was getting the appropriate treatment for his condition. Olofu, who I first called, confirmed my worst apprehensions.

Awunah succumbed to the cold hands of death at about 1am, that Monday, May 23, 2022. The wedding of his only daughter, Gabriella, was scheduled for a month earlier, April 23, 2022, in Makurdi. A week before the event, his family had notified guests of the postponement of the event, ostensibly to enable him to recuperate. Family, friends, associates and colleagues, rallied around him prayerfully, so he could be stable enough to stand the strains of a long haul flight abroad for further management. On one of my visits, he called out his preferred nickname for me, Baba Tee, as if to reassure me that he was coming round. He attempted to clench his right hand into a fist, so he could bump his knuckles into mine, characteristic of the camaraderie between us. His hand was noticeably frail, weak and tired, much unlike his famous brightness, bubble and bounce.

I met Don Awunah about two decades ago, courtesy of my very close, longstanding friend, classmate and brother, Nyitse. Both gentlemen grew up together in Makurdi, Benue state, and forged lifelong amity, which blossomed, and intertwined their respective families. Nyitse’s wife, Helen, indeed had Awunah’s spouse, Dooshima, as her “Best Lady” on the occasion of her wedding, about 30 years ago. Such is the profundity and multi-linkages of the relationship between both families. When Nyitse secured a teaching job at Bingham University, Auta-Balefi, near Karu, Abuja about six years ago, Awunah objected to his seeking residential accommodation, offering him a place in his official apartment in Abuja. If you desire to see either Awunah or Nyitse in Makurdi, there was always a 70% probability that they were in the homes of either of them.

Awunah was a very charismatic and likeable personality. He was a calm, discernibly simple, easy-going, thoroughly uncomplicated character.
It was very easy to get along with him. Perhaps because of his cosmopolitan evolution, he was extremely urbane, genial, outgoing and unassuming. He was a deep thinker who chose his words and expressions. You could be sure to find him on the side of objectivity on issues.

Donald Ngorngor Awunah was born June 13, 1963, in Bauchi, and had his elementary education in Ogwashi-Uku, Delta state (where his mother hails from), and Lagos, respectively. He attended Padopads Harmony Secondary School, Makurdi (owned by his father) and the School of Basic Studies, Ugbokolo, both in Benue state. He obtained a degree in Philosophy from the University of Lagos, in 1984, and underwent the mandatory one year National Youth Service Corps, (NYSC), at Shere Hills in Jos, Plateau state, between 1984 and 1985. Collectivisation of these experiences evidently impacted his broad vision and rainbow worldview.

He enlisted in the Nigeria Police Force (NPF) on March 15, 1988, as a cadet assistant superintendent of police, (ASP) on the same day as the incumbent inspector general of police (IGP), Usman Alkali Baba. Awunah was a thoroughly and totally professionally rounded police officer, whose most eventful 34-year career, crisscrossed several key departments and divisions of the police. He was a crack detective and untiring investigator; a dedicated crime buster and a painstaking fraud trailer. Awunah was an astute administrator and erudite speaker; an indefatigable instructor and grounded trainer; a seasoned communicator and a worthy image-maker. He was a most fitting foreign ambassador for the service in the course of his various international engagements, notably as contingent commander of the NPF, to the United Nations Integrated Mission in Timor-Leste (UNMIT), between 2008 and 2009. Concurrently with this assignment, he was the spokesperson of the mission.

To be sure, Awunah traversed the crime, fraud, public relations, administration, community policing, investigation, counterterrorism, border patrol and training sections of the police, among others, over his momentous career. He attended a myriad of courses and workshops, sharpening his skills in Nigeria, the United States of America, (USA), Japan, England, Scotland, and Israel, among others. He was at the centre of the interrogation of several headline criminal cases, particularly following the dawn of democratic governance. These included the investigation of the killings of Bola Ige, former Oyo state governor and minister of justice under the administration of President Olusegun Obasanjo and Marshal Harry, one time national vice-chairman of the All Nigeria Peoples’ Party, (ANPP). He equally served, with Solomon Arase, former IGP, in the inquisition processes of Hamza Al Mustapha, chief security officer to former military head of state, Sani Abacha.

Despite his privileged postings, he continued to seek further education and enlightenment. Awunah obtained master’s degree in International Relations and Strategic Studies from the Benue State University, (BSU) in 2009, and Peace and Security Studies, from the University of Ilorin (Unilorin) in 2015, respectively. He had earlier obtained a certificate in Mass Communication from the Federal Polytechnic, Idah, in 1990, to enhance his skills and competencies in information dissemination. His brief in his earlier service years devolved around public engagement and he anticipated a future career as a trumpeter for his organisation.

He serially availed himself of opportunities for training, retraining and further education and skill acquisition, in the line of his professional calling. His eternal aim was to be the best. He attended the senior executive courses for top-level administrators in some of Nigeria’s topmost institutes for the training of the decision-making cadre of security and public servants. These include the Executive Intelligence Management Courses at the Institute for Security Studies, (ISS), Abuja, 2014 and the National Institute of Policy and Strategic Studies, (NIPSS), Kuru, Jos, respectively. He had the acronyms ‘fsi’ and ‘mni’ representing: Fellow of the Security Institute and Member of the National Institute, affixed to his name. He was a scholar in his right, but he was never presumptuous. He was humble enough to subject his correspondences, term papers, speeches, press releases, to further interrogation and second editorial opinion.

Awunah brought class, style and panache to his schedule as police public relations officer (PPRO), between 2016 and 2017. His comportment in his several public appearances as a police mouthpiece endeared him to many and helped to temper public profiling of the force. He was perceived as a very sharp departure from run-of-the-mill police personnel, famous for rawness, sadism and meanness. He subsequently served as police commissioner in charge of Akwa Ibom state; Director of Studies, Police Academy, Kano (POLAK) and Bayelsa state, respectively. He imbued his briefs with humanism and novel engagement, drawing recognition and accolades from his host communities. He served as commissioner of police in charge of the Counterterrorism Unit (CTU), at the Force Headquarters in Abuja, and commandant of the Police Staff College (PSC), in Jos in 2020. His last assignment was AIG in charge of Zone 16 of the NPF, overseeing Bayelsa and Rivers states.

You couldn’t but notice Awunah’s passion and joy for his profession. He donned his uniforms with pride and delight. And irrespective of whether they were the day-to-day sky-blue top on black trousers, or the starched *khaki* attire, popular with the mobile police or CTU departments, they looked so good on him. Whether it was the ceremonial dress or the police combat fatigue, you could feel his happiness wearing them, complemented by his gleaming black shoes.

He was a regular guy who had a burning passion for football and contemporary happenings, among his varied interests. Awunah was, for instance, a diehard fan of the English Premier League (EPL) side, Chelsea. Nyitse and I, on the other hand, are Arsenal aficionados. We regularly poked fun at each, reviewing the performances of our club sides and projecting into their futures. You had to be in our midst on those days when our teams locked horns in famous North West London debacles.

He almost never missed early morning newspaper reviews and public affairs programmes. He would be the first to call you at dawn, chastising you for sleeping too much and not watching AIT or Arise or Channels Television. He would question your credentials as a top-flight journalist if you were not up to speed with current affairs. Nyitse and I would hit back and make light of his jibes, telling him we had other sources of filtering credible trending events.

Awunah was an exceptionally good man. His gentlemanly carriage and comportment, completely preceded and subsumed the top cop that he was. He was a family man par excellence, a loyal friend and an unrepentant patriot. He had a communal essence about his makeup, he cared about everyone and loved the music of conviviality and laughter. He treasured relationships. The very first post-retirement meeting Nyitse and I had with former President Goodluck Jonathan, was at Awunah’s instance. When he was commissioner of police in Bayelsa state, Jonathan who was in his Yenagoa home on a flying visit, invited Awunah for a meeting. Nyitse and I were guests of our friend, and he gladly invited us to come with him. He loved to show off his loved ones, and very proudly introduced us as “media scholars, top-flight journalists and distinguished public officers”.

It was the same flourish with which he announced our profiles when we accompanied him to meet Seriake Dickson, immediate past governor of Bayelsa, in Creek House, Yenagoa. In his company too, we visited Udom Emmanuel of Akwa Ibom, both in his Abuja accommodation, before being the governor’s guests at the annual “Akwa Ibom Festival of Carols,” in Uyo, December 2017. Awunah dared our broken-down roads and the nationwide security scare, to travel all the way from Yenagoa to Isanlu in Kogi state, to support me on the occasion of my father’s funeral, December 2018. I had been his guest in his Mbacholon home place in Gwer West local government area of Benue state, and in his Makurdi house, respectively. He was that loyal to friendship.

Former IGP Solomon Arase who visited Awunah’s Abuja apartment on Monday, May 23, 2022, consoled his wife and children, about the very sad incident. He confirmed that Awunah was a top-flight professional, who invested his very best in the service of the country. He recalled that Awunah was an assistant commissioner of police (ACP), while he (Arase), was substantive CP in Akwa Ibom state, many years ago. He confirmed that Awunah served with him in the investigation of a number of knotty cases. He requested to be carried along with the planning of his rites of passage.

Incumbent IGP, Usman Alkali Baba, described Awunah as “an eminent communicator and ardent officer”. He acknowledged “his resourcefulness and commitment to duty”. Baba condoled with Awunah’s “immediate family, relatives, course mates and friends of the deceased AIG”. He noted that Awunah passed away in the active service of his fatherland. Nyitse who has known Awunah for over 40 years, led the family’s delegation to the IGP, to formally notify the police authorities about the incident. He is deeply pained by the untimely demise of his “twin brother”.

Recipient of the 2018 Nigeria National Order of Merit Award (NNOM), regarded as Nigeria’s equivalent of the Nobel Prize, Professor Olu Obafemi, is thoroughly pained by Awunah’s demise. His words: “This is exceedingly painful and cruel. Death is shameless and terribly callous to lay its brutal fingers on such a model of professionalism. I am very sad indeed about this death”. Obafemi, a former president of the Nigeria Academy of Letters (NAL), expressed optimism that Awunah’s soul “will certainly rest perfectly in eternity”.

To say Don Awunah will be sorely missed is a gross understatement. He is survived by his loving wife, Dooshima Awunah, a deputy director in the Benue state civil service, and four lovely children. They took their turns being at the bedside of their father, until his last breath. May the soul of this prototype professional and inimitable gentleman rest in perfect peace.

Olusunle, poet, journalist, author and scholar, is a member of the Nigerian Guild of Editors (NGE)