Dr Aladesanmi Adedapo, a prince of the Aladesanmi dynasty in Ado-Ekiti who grew up mostly in between Lagos and Abuja as part of a family of six (including my parents).
I suppose I could say I grew up like every other kid who's father was a civil servant back in the '90s and who's mother also worked in a corporate establishment, comfortable, even though We may not have had all that we could possibly want but we had a lot to be grateful for.
Still it would be inaccurate to leave out the fact that I was born with albinism, a condition not unknown to most people though sadly misunderstood by the majority..That notwithstanding I had a fairly normal childhood, if you could tag a constant barrage of name calling and shifty behaviors normal, I mean there's a song dedicated to albinos that is largely irritating, if you take that and add the utter disgust or fear some people openly portray in their manner whenever they see me I'm sure you'll agree growing up for me must have been challenging in many ways to say the least.
But thankfully it wasn't all gloomy, in fact I can say without a doubt that I experienced more love and acceptance than the gloomy stuff, but I know I'll mainly be speaking for myself owing to the fact that I was just blessed with grace and divine favor.
From an early age I understood I'd have to reach out to the world since it was too afraid to reach out to me if I wanted to really live.
So I became one of the very few extroverted albinos you'd ever meet and surprisingly I made friends easily and usually was the center of attraction anywhere I stepped into.
At one point my mum told me she wasn't afraid to leave me in any place, familiar or not, because she was sure before she got back everybody there would be my friend.
Don't get me wrong this didn't change the fact that the wrongful stigma that came with being an albino still sort to stifle my day to day living but I grew a thick skin and learned to take what I can where I can get it.
The entirety of my formal education took place in the south western region of Nigeria with the major highlights occurring during my sojourn through the faculty of veterinary medicine,university of Ibadan.
After my induction into the Noble profession of being a veterinary surgeon I served my country for a year and then it was straight into private practice for me afterwards.
During my formative years I learnt a lot academically and otherwise, of course it helped that God compensated my lack of melanin with a largely intelligent brain (I say that with every sense of humility humanely possible to muster).
I experienced a wide spectrum of things, some owing to the fact that I'm an albino, others I lived through as the resultant effect of the decisions I made.
I've loved and been loved romantically, I've made mistakes some of which are better referred to as huge blunders, I've struggled and triumphed, in short I've had a life not unlike any human being's.
Imagine my surprise when my life took the most unexpected twist with my enrollment into the Nigeria Police Force.
Before joining the Nigeria police force, I did a short stint as a "duty continuity announcer" with radio Nigeria, a period during which I was compelled to act on a seemingly unquenchable love for the radio. It was during this period that I got drafted into the Nigeria police force (hereafter NPF).
I'd gone to visit a long time friend for the weekend back in the middle of last year and it was he who asked if I'd like to join the NPF as he had seen an AD calling for recruits somewhere.
I was reluctant at first and it wasn't until the second day he mentioned it that I uninterestedly completed the online application.
I promptly forgot all about it right after until a couple months later when I got the mail inviting me for the interview and subsequent physical screening.
Needless to say I was surprised but very thankful.
After the exams and screenings a list of successful candidates who had been shortlisted to report for training was published in the dailies along with instructions to report to the various police training schools and colleges on the 31st of December 2016.
After a little bit of an eventful scenario between New Year's Eve and the 1st of January we "specialists", as we are referred to due to the varieties of our professions for which the NPF recruited us, were finally admitted into the police staff college in Jos to commence training.
In the college, regimentation ensured strict compliance to set rules and the strenuously structured training program whipped us all into shape in no time.
Apart from the physical aspects of the training, we took courses in "professional" , "legal" and "liberal" studies to equip us with all we needed to be truly transformed into superior police officers worthy of the various levels within the rank of "superintendent" which we were to be appointed to.
At first everyone at the college was skeptic about how I'd perform and cope being an albino, of course this was a premature judgement flaw on the part of most of them, but it didn't matter to me because that wouldn't be the first time I'd experience that.
Sure enough I soon shower them all up, a feeling that never gets old, soon I became every instructors favorite cadet especially excelling on the parade ground, so much so that I was initially detailed to be the parade guard commander for the passing out parade of the specialists, sadly though I was subbed out at the last minute because some people felt an albino should not lead the guards even though I out-marched everyone on the grounds.
That wasn't what devastated me the most however, no, it was finding out a day before our passing out parade that I wasn't going to be given my appointment letter.
To cut the long story short I ended up in Abuja after the POP to find out why I wasn't given my appointment letter only to find out that an alleged recommendation apparently came from the college to withdraw me more or less because I'm an albino, despite completing the training exemplarily.
A long and sometimes demoralizing battle ensued to get me reinstated championed by a serving senator from my state, the albino foundation and a host of other angels God employed in rescuing me from such an injustice against humanity.
The battle was won to the Glory of God and I'm currently serving my country as a fully competent superintendent of the Nigeria Police Force.
Being a vet, I was appointed to the rank of a superintendent of police (SP) along with human medical doctors.
As a vet officer my duties center majorly but not limited to making sure the "force animals" which are used to boost the NPF's capabilities of maintaining law and order, are maintained in pristine condition.
For now these animals are mainly of the equine and canine species as only those two units, referred to as the "mountain troop unit" and "K9 unit" are currently under the direct supervision of the "vet unit".
These three currently make up what is known today as the "force animal branch".
As a vet police officer one has to be very vigilant and professional at all times as the animals under one's care are highly trained to perform specific duties and are very expensive,as prior to establishing a breeding unit here in Nigeria they were being acquired from outside the country.
Hence, the animal officers are high value assets and must be treated as such at all times. Also one must be a good leader as you would be in charge of other police officers, subordinates, detailed to work under you.
The best part of the job is that you get to literally kill two birds with one stone as you get to contribute to making your country a better and safer place by doing what you're trained to do. To me it's the most comfortable way to serve my country and do my bit in shaping a better future for the younger generation.
The above is the same reason why I joined and if it wasn't the police it would have been the army but one way or the other I would have strived to find or create the above stated conditions.
The job is challenging mainly because some of the people you're bound to work with are ignorant on several levels making it stressful delegating assuredly.
But still I'd advice any vet who wants to join the NPF to do so knowing they won't be stagnant as many opportunities for growth are exploitable even as more avenues open up ceaselessly.
No vet should be afraid of signing up as I'm confident the training that we receive is tough enough to prep us for challenges that come along with this territory.
The job is tough though, in that these animals are constantly used for patrols and as sentries to help boost security, so daily maintenance of all the service animals is key to keeping them in top condition, in other words, the workload on some days can be intense but nothing a little dedication and discipline can't withstand.
So far the only concern I have has to do with my "night time" which the daily workload seems to be robbing me of.
I do most of my "movie watching" in the night as I'm not much of night reader.
Night time is usually when I have time for the social media links that I keep, some of which include Facebook, instagram etc.
some of the other activities I spend my free time on include working out at the gym, chilling with friends generally anything that stimulates my senses.
As per senior vet colleagues that inspire me, I'll mention a few, Dr Omobowale, Prof Anunsa, I've picked those two because they contributed excitingly to my development as a vet and the ways in which they think outside the box is refreshing.
I think the most important lesson I've learnt since leaving vet school and joining the force is that everybody is different in a lot of ways and one has to be mature enough to respect that fact whether or not you agree with their kind of "different" or not.
Three words I would never use in describing myself - wicked, unreasonable and quiet.
I've left it to the very end to say this because I don't want it getting lost in between so many of the other words that make up this write up, no albino should allow anyone project the fears that come along with a poor understanding of albinism unto them, people naturally fear what they don't understand and instinctively try to stifle it.
Being an albino is not a death sentence, we are not our maker and He decided to make us perfect in this way.
There's no limit to what you can do or achieve once you set your mind to it, albino or not
Feel free to connect with me (@placid_us) on all platforms
one of my best interview , keep following.
0 comments:
Post a Comment