Ahmed Joda: Elder statesman and member of Kaduna Mafia who died at 91
It was journalist and professor Mvendaga Jibo who coined the term ‘Kaduna Mafia’ to refer to the group of influential northern businessmen and politicians who advanced the course of the region. Among them was Ahmed Joda, the elder statesman who passed away on Friday, August 13.
Joda was born on February 13, 1930, in Yola. His great-grandfather was Modibbo Raji, a prominent Islamic scholar and a contemporary of Usman Dan Fodio.
Joda attended Yola Elementary School and Yola Middle School before proceeding to Barewa College from 1945 to 1948. After graduation, he moved to Ibadan, where he worked at Moor plantation before joining Gaskiya Corporation, the first Hausa-language newspaper in Zaria.
In 1954, he moved to London to attend Pitmans College for two years. He returned to Nigeria and joined the Nigerian Broadcasting Service as a correspondent. He served in this role until Nigeria’s independence in 1960.
He joined the Northern regional government as a Chief Information Officer before later rising to the position of Permanent Secretary in 1962, where he served till 1967. He moved to the federal civil service following the outbreak of the Biafra war as a permanent secretary and served in the Ministries of Information, Education, and Industries. He ultimately retired in 1978.
Following his retirement from the civil service, he served as chairman and board member of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation, the Nigerian Communications Commission, the Pastoral Resolve, SCOA Nigeria, Chagoury Group, Flour Mills of Nigeria, and the Nigerian LNG
In that period, his recognition as a member of the Kaduna Mafia began to soar. He was appointed as a member of the 1988 Constituent Assembly, which planned the constitutional transition of the Third Republic. When Nigeria returned to Democratic rule in 1999, he was appointed a member of the Committee to advise President Olusegun Obasanjo on Poverty Alleviation. In 2015, he was made chairman of Nigeria’s Transition Committee when Muhammadu Buhari won the presidential election.
President Buhari, in his tribute to Joda, described him as a ‘Super Permanent Secretary’ and “a hero for all Nigerians” who, even in death, “will continue to inspire every generation to move forward with love, brotherhood and harmony.”
Former President, Chief Olusegun Obasanjo, in a statement signed by his media aide, Kehinde Akinyemi, said Joda was a friend for 60 years.
He said: “Oh! What a heartbreaking news, that my friend for well over 60 years has passed to the great beyond. If every Nigerian have the attributes of Joda, Nigeria will have been better than what it is now.
“Ahmed Joda by his feature did not need to tell you he is a Fulani man, but, in everything I know he did, he lived not just as a Fulani man, he lived, he worked and he laboured as a true Nigerian. They are not many like him, and that was what strengthened our relationship since 1959.”
A former vice president, Atiku Abubakar, in his reaction, said Adamawa state had lost one of its illustrious sons.
He said: “His stature as an accomplished administrator was towering and colourful. He was a shining star in the galaxy of Nigeria’s public servants.
“Ahmed Joda, with a few of his peers, wrote the rule book of Nigeria’s civil service and his footprints will remain indelible.
“Nigeria mourns this great Nigerian with immense contribution to growth of our country. We pray that the Almighty Allah accepts his soul and provides his family with fortitude to bear the loss of a forthright and iconic patriarch.”
