Former Vice President Atiku Abubakar has expressed sadness over the death of elder statesman Ahmed Joda, saying Adamawa State “has lost a colossus.”
In a personal tribute to the deceased on Friday, Atiku said “Indeed, an iroko tree has fallen in Nigeria, particularly northern Nigeria.”
The former vice president said the news of Alhaji Joda’s death “comes with some kind of a jolt, even though he lived to a prime age.”
He said the deceased belonged to the first generation of Adamawa indigenes who put the 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,” Atiku said.
He prayed that the Almighty Allah would accept his soul and provide his family with the fortitude to bear the loss of a forthright and iconic patriarch.