Vanguard
By Henry Ojelu
As a young boy, Hilary Okorie from Abia State admired the police and dreamt of becoming a police officer.
With no one to guide him on the path to achieving his dream, Okorie settled for a job as a clerical officer with his ordinary level certificate at the National Directorate of Employment.
While at NDE, Okorie’s earnest prayer was to get the opportunity to serve his country in uniform as a policeman one day.
The opportunity, however, came sooner than he expected, as his application into the Police Academy was accepted few days to his 22nd birthday.
Relieving the excitement when he received the official confirmation of his enlisting into the Police Academy, Okorie, now 52 said: “I have always had a deep love for police. When the opportunity came, I applied and after the interview, I was accepted. It was a dream come true for me.
“I was overjoyed and my family had a big celebration.”
After his training at the Police Academy, Okorie joined the Police on May 13, 1992, as a Cadet Inspector.
He was posted to Bauchi State Command and later to Gombe Division. In 1996, he was transferred to Force CID Annex, Alagbon, Lagos and assigned to a team of the Federal Anti-Robbery Squad. Recalling his role and experience in the team, Okorie said: “I was relatively young in the police then, so I had to understudy those in my team. My task was usually to beef up security when an arrest is to be made. It was really a learning start for me then which I was proud of.”
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