•Parry Osayande was a gift and model for security
The greatness of a person may be a concatenation of outstanding acts, a culmination of modest triumphs, or a single earthquake exploit, or a quiet heroic or simply the example of a lifestyle. It could come as a leader in an epic tale, a choreographer of an action, or the man in the centre of it.
Greatness does not come in a formula. Parry Osayande, who passed on recently, ended his career, as deputy inspector- general of police. He did not head the Nigeria Police. But in the annals of security history in the country, few can equal his accolade.
He is famously remembered as the mastermind of a capture and eventual execution of a savage mastermind: Lawrence Anini. The daredevil bandit was a slim, easily undistinguished frame of a fellow who held the then Bendel State and its environs captive for a long time.
He was more dreaded than any soldier in the country, even though we were under a military rule. Travellers dreaded the highways. Homes turned off their lights at night but not their eyes. Gate men contemplated him with trepidation. Fear grazed business and goods. Banks shook not because of the fluttering naira on the counters but the bankers themselves who were not sure if the next entrant was a man with a gun and a gang.
He was the devious touchstone of a rock star. His robbery acts read like movie scripts. There were tales of police officers on the run from him. Vigilantes could not pray to play host to him. One day, before television cameras, before the convening of the top military government’s Armed Forces Ruling Council meeting, then military president, General Ibrahim Babangida, sneered at the then inspector-general of police, Etim Inyang. Then the general quipped: “My friend, where is Anini.”
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It was one of the big quotes of his era, and it encapsulated official unease about the bandit. Anini was to lard that time with his quote before he faced firing squad: “E be like say I wan’ run mental.”
It was the police commissioner in charge of Bendel State, now split into Edo and Delta states, that took on the task of tackling the bear. Osayande worked with his men who eventually cornered him and felled him with a bullet, though not mortally. He was arrested with his partner, Monday Osunbor. It was the high point of Osayande’s career. It cannot but be the high point of any career. That informed the accolade of the Edo State Governor Monday Okpebholo when he passed on.
“The name Parry Osayande is synonymous with courage, discipline, and a sterling commitment to justice. His legendary exploits during his tenure as Commissioner of Police in the then Bendel State, especially in confronting the high-profile criminal gangs of the 1980s, remain a benchmark for police operational excellence in our country.”
He was also the commissioner of police who helped to quell religious rage on the streets of Bauchi State in which Christians and Muslims went after each other burning churches and mosques as well as shops and houses. Scores died in the mayhem.
Few know that he was in the trenches to mow down the Agbekoya Riots in the then Western Nigeria when farmers protested taxes. He was the Aide de Camp to the gallant soldier and governor of the then Western Region, Lt. Col Adekunle Fajuyi, who died during the Nigerian crisis of the 1960’s.
The example of Osayande is a model for today’s armed forces. Today, we have bandits running riot in parts of the country. We need to see police officers take on such exploits. Osayande was a cop who made corpses of hoodlums. So should they.
