MUSA YUSUF GARBA: Innovative leadership, unique gallantry to make policing richer, better in Kaduna State 

By Oki Samson

CITIZENS COMPASS – GREAT times of safety and security are here for the good people of Kaduna state. This is as the Kaduna State Police Command enjoys a fresh breath of air with the assumption of office of the new Commissioner of Police, CP Musa Yusuf Garba. 

He is bringing in his sagacity, vigour, and vibrancy into the scope of leadership and operations of policing in Kaduna state.

The dogged crime fighter, CP Garba ranks community engagement, credible intelligence and technology on a high pedestal which will be a great contributory factor for his success in Kaduna state.

Further, CP Musa Yusuf Garba offers Kaduna State Police Command a unique policing style and multifaceted experience drawn over the years. This is because he has practically worked in various tactical units and commands including police education, traffic management, mobile Police, criminal investigation, community policing, as security aide to a top government functionary, among others. Thus, he has high-level intelligence to share with the senior officers and the rank and file of the Nigeria Police, Kaduna State Command.

The new man at the helms of policing in Kaduna state, CP Musa Yusuf Garba was recently promoted to the rank of Commissioner of Police. He got this immediate posting with the approval of the appointments of CP Musa Garba and 11 others into different state commands by the Police Service Commission. The Chairman of the Commission, Dr. Solomon Arase charged them to quickly settle into their new places of assignment before the presidential transition among others at the state level.

On his part, the Inspector-General of Police, IGP Usman Alkali Baba charged Garba and the others to entrench professionalism and respect for fundamental rights in all officers and men under their supervision as well as urged them to adequately engrain community-oriented policing in their various jurisdictions to achieve modern, technology-based, and people-oriented policing services on all fronts.

Born 1st January 1966 in Zamfara state, the new Kaduna CP was enlisted into the Nigeria Police on 18th May, 1992 as Cadet Assistant Superintendent of Police. He worked as Divisional Traffic Officer in Shendam, Plateau state from 1994-1996 and Divisional Crime Officer in Gembu, Taraba state from 1996-1997.

He was promoted to Deputy Superintendent of Police on 1st March 1997. He served as the Commander of MOPOL 40, Police Mobile Force, Jalingo from 1998-1999 and worked as the Aide-de-Camp to the Governor of Zamfara state from 1999-2003.

The tough, crime-busting CP was promoted to Superintendent of Police on May 22, 2001. He served in the Criminal Investigation Department of Zamfara State Command and Kaduna State Command between 2003 and 2004.

He was promoted to the rank of Chief Superintendent of Police in 28th August 2006. He worked in the Police College Kaduna from 2004-2007, the Coordinator, Community Policing between 2007 – 2009, as DPO in Sokoto, Kaduna and FCT Commands between 2011 and 2014.

He was promoted to Assistant Commissioner of Police on 25th September 2014. He served as the Area Commander (Operations) in Kebbi state from 2014-2016 and Area Commander Bori, Rivers state from 2016-2019, and briefly as DC Armament at the Force HQ in 2019.

CP Musa Yusuf Garba was promoted to Deputy Commissioner of Police on 11th December 2018. He has served as the Commandant, Police Training School, Ikeja, Lagos from 2019 to his recent promotion as Commissioner of Police on 30th December 2022.

At the Police Training School, he performed excellently as hundreds of Supernumerary Police officers were churned out of the institution to enhance safety and security in Lagos and across Nigeria.

The intelligent Musa Garba is noted for championing intellectual conversations on moving the Nigeria Police forward.

He attended Government Secondary School, Bungudu where he graduated in 1984. He has a Bachelor of Arts in Education and Islamic Studies from Usmanu Danfodio University Sokoto in 1989 and a postgraduate Diploma in Public Administration from the same university. He also bagged a Diploma in Law from Kaduna Polytechnic, an Advanced Diploma in Strategic Security and Infrastructure Protection from University of Lagos, an Executive Diploma in Private Detective Tradecraft from Elizade University, Ilara Mokin, Ondo state, and a Masters degree in Criminology and Forensic Psychology from Nigeria Defence Academy (NDA), Kaduna state.

His professional courses and certifications include Police Mobile Training at Police Mobile Force Training College, Gwoza in 1993, Intermediate Command Course at Police Staff College, Jos in 2007 and Strategic Leadership Command Course in Jos in 2018. Others are Certificate in Enterprise and Security Risk Management, Certificate in Kidnapping and Hostage Survival, Certificate on Protecting Expatriates in Hostile Environments, Certified Safety/Protector Supervisor, and Certificate on Leading Organization out of Security Crisis – all in 2020, and Certified Security Investigator in 2021.

CP Musa Yusuf Garba holds the fellowships of many highflying institutions. He is a fellow of the International Institute of Professional Security (IIPS), Institute of Security Nigeria, Institute of Criminological Studies and Security Management (CSSM) and Institute of Strategic Public Negotiation (ISPN).

The new Kaduna CP is a recipient of the National Association of Online Security News Publishers (NAOSNP) award of excellence in security management among others awards and honours. He is also a lover of sports. For his pastime, he plays badminton, football, and table tennis.