After a successful public life, it seems these individuals who once served public interests at different times and in different capacities have finally retired into private life; SUNNY IDACHABA wonders where and what they could be doing now.
Eddie Iroh
Chief Eddie Iroh is a media guru. His last major public outing was as the director-general of the Federal Radio Corporation of Nigeria (FRCN). This was between 1999 and 2003. In the literary world, he is noted to have authored the book, Without a Silver Spoon, which has been used in many secondary schools and other external examinations across the country.
Eddie came from a family that is not akin to becoming an accomplished media guru as he himself often said, “I was born in circumstances that could have provided me a perfect excuse for being an armed robber.” Like the title of his popular novel, Without a Silver Spoon, he was born without any trace of what one can call nicety. He grew up in an Igbo village setting under parents who were materially poor, but spiritually and morally wealthy.
Writing about Eddie, Joseph Dinwoke said, “Like every child, he had his fantasies of which one of them was to become the UN secretary general. His fantasies were fuelled by how the UN chief scribes were treated then, but even in his fantasies, he knew deep down in him that he wanted to be a man of letters.”
In his own words, he said, “I thought it would be exciting to be the man who was the world’s number one diplomat as well as public servant but deep down within me, I knew I wanted to be a writer and journalist.”
He was a pioneer staff of the Nigeria Television Authority (NTA) led by Engr. Vincent Maduka. From the NTA, he moved to the Guardian Newspaper in 1993, where he rose to become its first managing director. Eddie, whose marriage to his first wife, a white lady, collapsed because his father in-law objected to her daughter marrying a black man, said of his second wife, “She has been able to cope with the stressful demand of running a home and looking after children.
“She has also shown the kind of strength that I didn’t know she had. She was about 25 when we got married. She has also gained by recognising her inner strength. She doesn’t allow anybody to iron her kids’ uniforms for her. There are things she doesn’t assign to anybody. I come in sometimes to assist her wherever I can. I cook quite often. I enjoy cooking and also taking out the garbage.”
Under him as DG of FRCN, a number of FM stations were established in many states of the country including the now-popular Capital FM in Abuja. For a long while now, it is not clear where this former DG is, but as one of the technocrats in the administration of former President Olusegun Obasanjo in 1999, his inputs in the nation’s broadcasting house still remain a legacy to date.
Mike Ahamba
Chief Mike Ahamba, conferred with the title of Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN) in 1992, was the legal counsel to Gen. Muhammadu Buhari (retd.) before they parted ways. He is a household name in legal matters in the country and in every respect a legal luminary. Chief Ahamba’s professional experience spans a vast area of adjudicative and procedural laws. He is a member of the Chartered Institute of Arbitrators (UK), among others. He was appointed a notary public in 1991 and appointed SAN on July 20, 1992.
Ahamba studied Law at the University of Maiduguri and graduated in 1981. His first working experience was as legal trainee in Kano after which he worked with Legal Resources Consortium in Imo state from 1986 to 1988 before he established Mike Ahamba & Associates in 1989.
Chief Ahamba is a member of various professional and social organisations and has presented several papers on various issues of law and practice. Besides being a sportsman and ardent golfer, Chief Ahamba is also a humanitarian. His firm is one of the leading law chambers in the country with over two decades of operation and core experience in a wide range of national and international legal services. His firm has developed an enviable portfolio of clients cutting across various industries and economic sectors and has handled over 1,000 cases that have contributed to jurisprudence in Nigeria.
The firm’s experience spans through commercial and financial transactions, corporate legal services, capital market operations, privatisation, telecommunication, maritime law, constitutional law, oil and gas and litigation.
As a constitutional lawyer, he has criticised the National Assembly for not initiating impeachment proceedings against presidents who have deployed troops in civil operations without their approval.
In particular, he said the actions of Presidents Olusegun Obasanjo and Muhammadu Buhari who deployed troops in peace times without parliamentary approval were unconstitutional. He cited Operation Python Dance in the South-east, the Odi and Zaki Biam military operations and the use of military force during elections as serious constitutional infractions which ought to be punished under the Doctrine of Checks and Balances.
According to him, “The National Assembly should explain why they have not initiated impeachment proceedings against all these presidents. If you look at Section 143 of the constitution, breach of the constitution is impeachable.
“Now, things go wrong in this country because the institutions that are supposed to carry out the letters of the constitution have refused to do their work.”
Chief Ahamba has never occupied any public office, but has been very vocal in private legal firms, especially election matters, but in recent times, not much has been heard about him.
Hauwa Baba Ahmed
In the line-up of foremost newscasters the Nigeria Television Authority (NTA) ever paraded, the name Hauwa Baba Ahmed, now Hauwa Shaibu, stands out among her equals. What is remarkable about her is the fact that at a time when it was viewed that owing to cultural and religious background, someone like her from the northern axis of the country cannot attain a celebrity status on live television, she however did.
Hauwa, in the course of her job at the nation’s premier television station, combined beauty with intelligence in the discharge of her duties. Until 2018 when the NTA brought her and other former employees (now retired) back on the tube momentarily in commemoration of its 40th anniversary, not much was heard about her before then.
Speaking about her, a TV presenter with Arewa Television, Madinah Muazu, said she got her inspiration from Hauwa.
According to Madinah, “Well, I can say that my career began when I used to watch the 7:00pm news presented by Hauwa Baba Ahmad on NTA Kaduna. I was actually inspired by her. I liked what she was doing to the extent that I ended up imitating her. I used to insert a cassette in a tape deck and record the news I read in newspapers as I saw her doing on TV.”
Scanty information about her has it that she later joined Larfage as employee relations manager; apart from this, not much has been heard about her in recent times.
