Helen Moyegbone is the sort of police officer that James Hadley Chase would like to describe. She is stocky and thickset, dark, with a distinctive ebony sheen that makes her skin glow under the sun. She takes her place along the road, her uniform tailor-made to fit her matronly size.
In spite of that size, she is smart and known for her quick steps and her ample gestures. She is the sort of traffic warden that every motorist would obey when she waves for the next vehicle to pass so that the one after that can also pass.
Moyegbone, popularly known as Mama Gee, feels her duty done when the traffic flows and everyone gets to their working place in good time to help the process of nation-building. She takes pride in the service she offers to the public, the duty she has chosen as a calling, a willingness to perform even without being called upon to do so.
In her own humble way, she qualifies to be called a role model for women in active service to the society. For many women along the roadside markets of Yenagoa metropolis, stretching from Ovom through Opolo to Agudama, right up to the gateway town of Igbogene, that is what Mama Gee represents — a role model, a woman of order and good breeding.
That’s why she is popular with the market women, and that is why they would readily do what she says when she marches along the fringes of the roadside market, the occasional cane in hand, beating back the spill of buyers and sellers from the choke of everyday traffic.
Moyegbone is, without doubt, the most popular traffic warden in all of Bayelsa State. From the time she first took to the road, she became one of the most visible landmarks of Yenagoa. She knows the state capital like the back of her hand, and no stranger can get lost in Yenagoa when Helen is there to give directions. She knows Bayelsa, and Bayelsa knows her.
The motorists see her from a distance, and they are assured that the traffic will flow. The truck pushers know her, the tricycle riders know her, the area boys know her, the everyday commuters know her, the school children know her and, if the regular honk in traffic is anything to go by, even the vehicles know her.
Moyegbone arrived Yenagoa, Bayelsa State capital, for the first time in 2003, one year after she joined the Nigeria Police. She worked as an investigator for eight years, chasing crime around Bayelsa, before being posted to the traffic section and therefore to the road. From 2010, she took charge of the road, wearing her white arm band upon her black uniform, and waving vehicles through the grid of daily traffic.
Like her fellow traffic wardens, Moyegbone worked longer hours when the traffic lights broke down along strategic parts of the state capital. She was one of the early sights to be seen in the morning, and she gravitated to the most congested parts of Yenagoa. She was a familiar sight at Tombia Roundabout where the milling crowd contested space with the daily rush of traffic.
Her appearance meant that traffic would flow. The motorists were confident that wherever Mama Gee stood, the traffic was bound to proceed. That’s because Helen’s concentration at her duty post always yielded results. She had a knack for easing traffic, no matter how tight the logjam may be.
Mama Gee, in short, does not like to witness any hold-up. But when there is a jam along the road, that is when her best comes on show. She was at work eight hours a day, in the rain and under the sun, taking greetings from the long line of familiar motorists and sundry commuters.
In times past, at the height of the traffic jam along the Isaac Boro Expressway, when Julius Berger trucks were tipping sand every quarter hour, Helen would walk long distances, heading toward the source of the logjam. She would get there, her stamina evident with every confident step she took, and free the traffic as if she was untying a knot in a fishing net.
Moyegbone was on hand to ease traffic in Amassoma on Saturday, 26 April 2014, during the final burial rites of Chief Salo Memein Alamieyeseigha, father of the first executive Governor of Bayelsa State. She was there again when the remains of the Governor-General himself, Chief Diepreye Alamieyeseigha, were laid to rest in April 2016.
In like manner, when the remains of Madam Goldcoast Dickson, mother of the former Governor of Bayelsa State, were being interred, Mama Gee was right there in Toru-Orua. Among an active row of traffic wardens on duty, she could be spotted from a distance, holding her ground, waving to on-coming vehicles, her fingers flexible in the air.
In the recent past, during tumultuous political rallies that overtook the streets of Yenagoa, Mama Gee gave a good account of her services. Wherever there was a crowd and a long line of immobile vehicles, there she was trying to free the gridlock.
It was as if her attention was called by every signal of congestion around town. Her effectiveness was known during church processions, football tournaments, street protest marches, funeral ceremonies, grand wedding parties, just any social event that was likely to attract a large crowd of people and give rise to an unwieldy traffic situation.
Not surprisingly, Moyegbone’s efforts did not go unnoticed. Many motortists expressed open gratitude to her, and recommended her for promotion. She has garnered more plaques, more laurels of appreciation from the general public and sundry goodwill organisations far more than any other regular police officer in the last fifteen years. Her dedication to duty, her passion for public service, was simply evident to see.
Born on Monday, 20June 1977, in Warri, Delta State, Mama Gee is of Urhobo stock. Early in life, she grew up with a definite wish to be of service to society. She grew up with a dream to make a difference every day of her life. She served as a corporal in the police for twelve years, and was comfortable in the knowledge that she was useful. Today, she wears her rank as Inspector, and still finds the road as her most appropriate duty post, even though she has been withdrawn from her favourite routine.
Her last birthday was a public event. She was on traffic duty when a group of admirers invited her to a surprise party that had been staged solely for her at a highbrow hotel in Yenagoa. She arrived the venue, and was overwhelmed to see the lavish feast laid out for her celebration.
A special birthday cake with the unique design of a light blue police uniform, folded double, complete with buttons and epaulettes, had been baked for her. Mama Gee could not help but pose for a photograph with that special cake before the uniform was cut up into delicious edible pieces. Even though she doesn’t ply the road on foot anymore, the road and its users still miss her whenever traffic builds up. Wherever she may be, she could do with one more award for hard work and dedication to duty.
