LOVING MY POLAC CADET

My name is Aisha Abdullahi. 22 years old. Final year student of Sociology, Bayero University Kano. But that is not the important part. The important part is, I am in love with a man who wears black uniform and black boot and carries handcuff like it is wristwatch. His name is Umar Sani. My Umar. POLAC cadet. POLAC - Police Academy Wudil. The place where they turn small boys to men, and turn our boyfriends to people who will wake us by 5am shouting "Yes sir!" I met Umar in JSS 2. That was 10 years ago. He was the boy who used to steal my zobo during break time and run. I would chase him around the whole school. In SS1, he told me under the mango tree behind our class, "Aisha, I will marry you. Even if I become IGP." I laughed that day because his uniform was too big for him. His father is a retired policeman, so Umar has always wanted to be a policeman. While other boys were saying they want to be Yahoo boy, footballer, musician, Umar was saying "I want to be in POLAC." Now he is in POLAC. Final year. 300 Level. Passing out in 2 months. And I am supposed to be happy. But I am not. Because loving a POLAC cadet is not like loving a normal BUK student. Normal BUK boyfriend will call you by 8pm and say "Baby, come to New Site, let's eat shawarma." POLAC boyfriend will call you by 9pm and say "My sunshine, I can only talk for 3 minutes, they will seize my phone. I have morning parade by 4am." Normal boyfriend will take you to Ado Bayero Mall. POLAC boyfriend will take you to Wudil and show you parade ground and say "This is where they punished me to roll inside mud for 2 hours because my boot was dirty." But still, I love him. I love him more than suya. More than my mother's jollof rice. Today was supposed to be a happy day. It was POLAC Open Day. Families and girlfriends can come and visit. I wore my new yellow abaya. The one I bought for 15,000 naira in Kantin Kwari. I even borrowed my sister's gold earrings. I wanted Umar to see me and say "You are the most beautiful girl in Wudil." I entered a bus from Kano to Wudil. 2 hours road. The bus was full of mothers carrying coolers of food for their sons. One mama was carrying a big cooler of tuwo and miyan kuka. She said "My son has not eaten tuwo for 6 months. They only give them white rice in academy." I laughed. POLAC food is a story for another day. When I reached POLAC gate, everywhere was full of people. Cadets in black uniform marching up and down. Families taking pictures. It was like Sallah day. I called Umar, "I am at the gate." He said, "Wait for me near admin block. I am coming from parade. Don't enter wrong hall." Wrong hall? What does he mean by wrong hall? I was looking for admin block. The academy is very big. Bigger than BUK. Every building looks the same - black and white. I asked one cadet, "Where is admin block?" He pointed, "Go straight, turn left, you will see hall." I went straight. I turned left. I saw a hall. Big hall. I entered. Inside the hall, about 200 cadets were sitting down. All in uniform. An Oga was standing in front shouting. I thought maybe this is where families wait. I sat down at the back quietly. I was looking for Umar. But all the cadets look the same in uniform. Same haircut. Same serious face. Suddenly the Oga shouted, "Who is that civilian in yellow abaya? Stand up!" Everybody turned and looked at me. 200 cadets looking at me. My yellow abaya was shining like traffic light. I stood up. My hands were shaking. "Who are you? What are you doing in Cadet Lecture Hall? This is not family visiting hall! This is punishment hall!" Punishment hall? Ya Allah! My voice was shaking, "Sir, I... I am looking for... Umar..." "Umar who? There are 50 Umars here! And you entered a hall without permission! Cadet Umar Sani, is this your... your... person?" One cadet stood up from front. It was Umar! But his face... his face was red. He was embarrassed. "Yes sir, she is... she is my..." "Your what? Girlfriend? You brought girlfriend inside lecture hall during punishment briefing? Cadet Umar, you have added 2 hours extra parade for your coursemates because of this!" All the cadets shouted "Ehhh!" and looked at me. I wanted the ground to open and swallow me. My yellow abaya that I bought for 15k, I was now a punishment case. Umar ran to me. He pulled my hand and took me outside the hall. Outside, under the sun, he said, "Aisha! I said wait near admin block! Why did you enter the wrong hall?" "I... I... the cadet said go left... I..." He looked at me. He was angry, but when he saw my eyes were already full of tears, he softened. He sighed, "My sunshine, you wore yellow abaya. You look beautiful. But you entered the wrong hall. Now my whole course will laugh at me. They will call you 'Yellow Abaya'." I started crying. "I came from Kano, 2 hours, to see you and you are shouting at me?" He quickly wiped my tears with his hand. His hand was rough. POLAC hand. "I'm sorry. I'm sorry. Don't cry. Let's go. Family hall is the other side. And... you really look beautiful. Like wife of IGP." I smiled small. He always knows how to make me stop crying. We walked to the family hall. That day, he introduced me to his friends as "My future wife, Aisha, who entered punishment hall instead of family hall." Everybody laughed. I laughed too. I was embarrassed, but I was happy. I was with my POLAC cadet. If I had known that 2 months later, his posting letter would come with MAIDUGURI written in big red letters, maybe I would have stayed longer in that wrong hall that day. Because after Maiduguri posting, there will be no more visiting days. No more Wudil. Only 600km distance, no network, and a silver ring worth 7,000 naira.