Ahmed Joda: An iroko has fallen in Nigeria, says Atiku

By Folorunso Alagbede, Abuja

Former Vice President, Alhaji Atiku Abubakar has described Alhaji Ahmed Joda, who passed on few days ago, as an accomplished administrator and shining star in the galaxy of Nigeria’s public servants.
Joda, according to Atiku, belonged to the first generation of Adamawa indigenes who put the state and the North in the map of modern Nigeria.
The former Vice President and presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, in the 2019 general election, said these in a statement he issued at the weekend to eulogise the late Ahmed Joda.
The stature of Ahmed Joda as an accomplished administrator, the former Vice President pointed, out, was towering and colourful.
His words, “Today, our beautiful Adamawa State has lost a colossus. Indeed, an iroko tree has fallen in Nigeria, particularly Northern Nigeria.
“The news of the death of Alhaji Ahmed Joda, CFR, comes with some kind of a jolt even though he lived to a prime age.
“He belonged to the first generation of Adamawa indigenes who put our state and the North in the map of modern Nigeria.
“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.
“As we mourn this great Nigerian with immense contribution to the 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”, he said.