RIGHT ON TIME

chapter 15

ONE WEEK LATER. 

POLICE STATE COMMAND, PORT HARCOURT, RIVERS STATE. 

The Rivers State police commissioner sauntered into his office with one of the daily newspapers he loved reading every morning he came to work. It had become a habit. 

He was always curious to know what the media and the masses were thinking and saying about him and the entire Nigerian Police Force, that was why he often requested newspapers on his way to work everyday. He didn't know why it mattered so much to him, but he just liked reading the public's opinion about him. Sometimes, he even went as far as googling his name.  

He finally got to his seat and plopped down heavily before opening the newspaper. His eyes scanned the newspaper headlines. As usual, about thirty percent of the headline was about the military and their 'exploits'. Another chunk of the headline meandered about the corrupt state of the politicians, both ruling and latent, while the remaining part of the newspaper's front page was about foreign affairs, sports and the evil that was being perpetrated in the society. 

His scan proved fruitful when his eye came upon something that grabbed his attention. It was about the Kano State police commissioner. His curiosity soared. 

KANO STATE POLICE UNCOVERS LAIR OF WANTED CRIMINALS, ARRESTS MANY. THE POLICE STATE COMMISSIONER SPEAKS ON THE OPERATION.

That woman! 

He re-read it three times before finally flipping over to the page where the full story was written. 

As he read the whole news, he discovered that a much-sought criminal hideout in Kano had been discovered. Twenty-three of those miscreants were arrested, while two cunningly escaped during the whole jamboree. The commissioner had already sent highly trained search teams for the two escapees and they were following every trail. 

"Wow, nice job," the commissioner mumbled under his breath in admiration after reading about the efforts of the Kano State police. 

What were the Kano State police force doing? How were they getting it right? 

The commissioner looked at his counterpart's picture that was attached to the newspaper headline. There was nothing spectacular about the plain-faced woman, who wore a flowery black and silver hijab under her official uniform, staring back at him with an expression of purpose. He shook his head in wonderment. These days, she seemed to be the only one getting things right. 

That didn't come as a surprise, the commissioner thought, seeing how dedicated she was, both to her job and her religion. 

Being just a Muslim by religious affiliation, Abubakar had never been devout to the tenets of Islam. By the looks of it, his colleague's piety was aiding her efforts and making her tenure so prosperous. He made up his mind to change his ways and become more pious. He'd make sure he prayed five times a day, facing Mecca on his prayer mat. Maybe Allah would see his sincerity and smile on him. 

His eyes shifted to another headline that wrote about the police still not being able to capture the leader of the highest crime syndicate in Nigeria. As expected, the Inspector-General of police had given his remark on that headline. 

The rest of the headlines about the military was mostly about the Nigerian army and Boko Haram, bandits and kidnappers. 

Even after he moved on to other headlines, the police commissioner's mind still hovered about the report on the crime syndicate now popularly known as, 'Alpha Shadows'. 

The Nigerian police, especially the River State police force, had exhausted every possible lead to capture the leader of the syndicate and stop their operations in the country, but all to no avail.