The Divisional Police Officer (DPO) incharge of Millennium City, Chikun local government area of Kaduna State, Lawal Abdullahi, has been lauded for assisting one teenager, Aliyu, with the sum of fifty three thousand naira (N53, 000) to enable him pay for the dowry of his fiancée, Maryam.

Speaking in an interview, the secretary of Danbushiya traditional council, Umar Yakubu, who disclosed this stated that Danbushiya community are happy with the development, adding that the issue of Aliyu and Maryam had earlier attracted some condemnations.

“You know as adults, Islam does not allow this kind of relationship where a boy and girl will be isolated except if you are legally married. So, the community was always suspicious of the couple.

“Thus, when they complained to the District Head, he summoned the couple to hear from them. They told him they actually wanted to get married but what is delaying is money,” he added..

According to Yakubu,the traditional ruler decided to give the boy ample time to discuss with his parents and report back to the palace.

“He came back to tell the District Head that his heartthrob, who is also an orphan, asked him to pay twenty thousand naira (N20,000)as dowry. But neither he nor his parents have the money.

“Again, the District Head gave the teenager another ample time to source for the money and pay for her dowry as Islam demands so that they will get married.

“Yet, the teenager failed to meetup and the DH decided to take the matter to the DPO so that they will separate the couple.

“However,the DPO instead decided to assist the teenager with N53,000 to pay for the dowry and pay for other things as custom demands.

“When the news filtered in the community, they were happy over the DPO’s intervention and called on other police officersto emulate the DPO. Foryour information, the couple are now husband and wife. We thanked him for what he did in our community,” Yakubu stressed.

Meanwhile, in an interview, DPO Lawal Abdullahi stated thatwhat he did wasto change the narrative, so that people will not continue to see policemen as bad people.

“We are humans too and have feelings and we can also assistpeople outside our work,” he declared. (Nigerian Tribune)