Death is a thief on assignment. It is like the usual thief that steals our belongings. It steals our joy and happiness and we are left helpless. Death is so strong that no living soul, not even the strongest soldier, can evade it when it comes. Like a thief that strikes without notice, so is death; it comes of its own volition and takes away our loved ones, unannounced, without any resistance .
It takes away the king and even the poor. It takes away the most beautiful and the most ugly, that is why many writers have described death in different ways, and one writer says death is a debt we all shall pay. Unfortunately, when it strikes, nobody can resist it, even the wealthy and the mighty. Incidentally, there are people that death takes away and we unanimously ask, why? Why would death snatch the Rivers State Commissioner of police, Francis Odesanya, who recently supervised the last senatorial re-run election of 2016 in the state? Before the election, Odesanya was among the seven state commissioners of police that emerged as the best commissioners in the country, sequel to a poll conducted by Security File, a security column published in Daily Sun newspaper. His managerial ability and professional acumen were excellent, so was his human relations. He was an unassuming and humble officer to the core. Once, I sent a woman medical doctor whose husband was arrested and detained by one of the divisions, the attention he gave the woman doctor changed her perception of the police. When the woman doctor heard of his death, she broke down and wept profusely. She had only met him once but his humility and humane disposition won her heart. After the Rivers State elections, Odesanya told me he wanted to go and rest, which was alien to many police officers. They work round the clock as if they are gods, even the public and government do not believe they need rest or vacation, they use them like rags and dump them afterwards. Unknown to me, the “rest” turned out to be his eternal rest. He died at the Sterling Hospital, Ahmedabad, Gujarat, India.
What a sad way to rest when the earthly assignment he enlisted for is still on. What a painful way to die, when the officers and men of his command are still awaiting his return. What a way to go when even his boss, the Inspector-General of police, Ibrahim Idris, is awaiting his return back to his duty post. What a way to fall into the hands of death when the Governor of River State, Chief Ezenwo Nyesom Wike is still awaiting the return of his commissioner. We, his friends and colleagues, were still praying for his quick return only to receive the blow that our friend, CP Odesanya, had been snatched away by irresistible death. CP Odesanya, the news of your death shocked everyone . Those that knew you were more shocked. Here was a strategic police officer, so full of policing ideas that even other sister agencies in Rivers State saluted his professionalism. Odesanya hated injustice and he would say, “If l don’t fight injustice, it may one day fight my relations or friends.”
Odesanya was enlisted into the Nigeria Police Force on February 1, 1986, as a Cadet Assistant Superintendent of Police. He died on January 31, 2017. His death has once again brought to the fore the evil in jettisoning regular medical checks for senior police officers. A man gets enlisted into the police force and he is subjected to rigorous training and operational activities all the year round. He is subjected to wear uniform round the clock, with belt, beret and boot, yet the government does not thinking of providing the officer with free medical service. It is high time that security personnel were granted free medical service by the Nigerian government. Adieu, CP Adesanya!!!.