(IGP), Ogbonnaya Onovo's approval of police return to polo pays off. The Nigerian Police team led by CSP Aliyu Abubakar has won the coveted Dansa cup of the 2010 MTN Lagos International polo tournament.A product of several years of hardwork by men of the force.

Encouraged by the success story of the Nigerian Army Guard Polo Club, the Nigeria Police Force, which used to be in the forefront in the promotion of the ancient king of games, polo, has stepped up arrangements to revive its own Nigeria Police polo team.

This latest effort, which has the backing of the Inspector General of Police (IGP), Ogbonnaya Onovo, is coming on the heel of a new surge in popularity by the king of sports in Nigeria, with new polo clubs springing up in Akwa Ibom, Taraba and Yobe states.

It’s reliably gathered that this good news followed real anxiety by concern officers of the force, who believe that the Nigeria Police, which
once occupied a pride of place in the annals of the ancient king of games in Nigeria, has been left far behind and is on the verge of being
completely forgotten by history.

Our checks also revealed that after series of high-level consultations, the Police IG was brought into the picture, and as you are reading this, the Force Headquarters has sought the help of the Lagos Polo Club for the renaissance of the once dreaded Police Bombers Polo Team. We salute the enthusiasm of the Inspector General, Onovo in this crusade to breadth life back into the once foremost Police Bombers Polo Team and restore the force back to its pride of place as the fulcrum of sports development in the country.

While we commend this effort, it is important to state clearly here that the Police Bombers, as polo team has nothing to do with the usual Mounted Throop. While the polo team has everything to do with sports like boxing, athletics and football teams, the Mounted Throop functions as one of the departments in the day-to-day duties of the Police Force.

This clarification becomes necessary because the last before this latest attempt at reviving the Police team went up in flame because the fund meant for polo was allegedly diverted to the Mounted Troops, while its real beneficiary, Police Bombers, were left perpetually in comatose. Unless the Force Headquarters is focus and clear on the two, the rich polo tradition build over decades by pioneering efforts of officers, whose love for animal and the noble game of polo and spearheaded by generation of Inspector Generals, will continue to remain a hunting nightmare for the institution craving for recognition.

Memories are still fresh within the polo fraternity of never-ending sporting rivalries between the Police team and the Army Polo team on one hand and the civilian teams on the other. “In those years, the Police and the Army teams were the most dreaded
opponents during tournaments and whenever they clash, all used to turn up for the battle royale,” Alhaji Hassan Hadejia, the Life President of Kaduna Polo Club, recalls.

“The Police polo team used to be the epitome of every eye with the players’ sparkling jerseys and regimental formation, but today, I can’t
understand what is really wrong with them,” lamented Hadejia. The last time the Police Bombers participated in the Nigeria Polo
Federation sanctioned tournament was a decade ago at the Niger Delta Polo Festival in Port Harcourt, the Rivers State capital. That team comprising Gabriel Omale, Tijani Yahaya, Ibrahim Abdu and then DSP Aliyu Abubakar, who captained the squad, tried their best, labouring with thread bare jerseys, old and tired ponies handed out by rich patrons, were clearly the  odd team of the tournament.

“This is a shame. How does the IG expected his men to fight for honours with lame local horses whose power are not more than that of dogs in today’s polo, where Argentine and South African horses are the kings?” angry fans who witnessed the Police humiliation shouted from the crowded stands. Things got worse for the “Olopas” in Ibadan the following month and since then the Bombers have not shown up. But one man, who has continued to fly the flag of the Nigeria Police Force at every tournament, is the Bombers’ captain, Aliyu Abubakar, now Chief Superintendent of Police (CSP).

Since the Bombers went under, this Katsina-born officer, who hails the latest effort, has kept the faith, mounting teams to play in the name of the Police team, but there is a limit to which his meagre resources could go. Abubakar, who described the pathetic condition the Police Bombers were playing under as embarrassment to the Force, salutes the courage of the IGP for reviving the Nigeria Police team.

“The day the Police team will return to the main stream of Nigerian polo like Zaria did last December in Jos, will be the greatest day in my life and the biggest honour to the Force and the country at large,” the elated CSP added.

Only two weeks ago, Abubakar, who is a member of the Lagos Polo Club, pivoted Port Harcourt Crushed Rock team to runners-up finish in the race for the T.Y. Danjuma Cup at the recently concluded Niger Delta Polo Festival. To other popular Police players like Inspector Alkali, Kapeh Silas, Monday Bayara, Ebel Nathaniel and many more, who have been waiting for this revival, Onovo will perpetually remain their man if he follows through his renaissance crusade of the Police Bombers.

After carving a dignified image for itself as one of the pivot for the spread of the noble game, the Police, through its own volition, took the
backseat. Allowing its contemporaries in the Army and the Customs to lap up the honours, even at the recently celebrated polo centenary in the country.

What Onovo is embarking on by equipping the Police polo team to bring honours to the institution, should not be viewed as something out of fashion. After all, that magnificence and graceful animal called horse, is a much older member of the Police, outlasting the present generation of the officers and men of the force by centuries.

This present effort should be following on the footsteps of a rich tradition that has seen the Police in the forefront of sports development
in the country, which has helped in no small way to shore up the battered image of the institution. Today, teams sponsored by the Nigeria Police are top contenders in the Basketball Premier League and the National Female Soccer League, among others.