The names of these former public officers may have been lost to history if records of their services are not rewritten for posterity. In this report, ELEOJO IDACHABA asks where these individuals could be now.
Mike Oghiadomhe
Chief Mike Oghiadomhe is a former deputy governor of Edo state wwhen Lucky Igbinedion was governor from 1999 to 2007, on the platform of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), where he and his boss served out their two tenures. Oghiadomhe was also the chief of staff to former President Goodluck Jonathan from 2011 to 2014, before he left in search of further political greener pastures.
In 1998, he went into active politics and was elected into the House of Representatives on the platform of the United Nigeria Congress Party (UNCP) unopposed. In the course of service, he received several awards for his unalloyed loyalty and outstanding performances and in appreciation of his immense contributions to the development of his state. For example, Edo traditional rulers unanimously conferred upon him the title of Oluetsenigie of Edo land; he, according to history, is the first to hold that collective title from the entire traditional institutions in the state. Oghiadomhe in 2007 was initially appointed as deputy chief of staff to Jonathan as vice-president in the late President Musa Yar’Adua administration, a position he held till August 2008, when the position was scrapped. He was then designated as principal secretary till May 17, 2010, when he was again elevated to the chief of staff to Jonathan as acting president.
Chief Oghiadomhe was at a point a member of the board of trustees of the PDP.
Following his resignation in 2014, it was speculated that he was sacked by President Jonathan over graft-related matters, but the rumour was refuted by then presidential spokesperson, Reuben Abati, who clarified that he resigned to pursue his political ambitions.
Writing in the Nigerian Voice about the rumoured sack of Oghiadomhe by some online media, Adam Ogar said the scandal about his alleged sack was the handwork of mischief makers who tried to link him with some controversial comments by Henry Okar.
According to him, “The office of the chief of staff in any government is very strategic and whoever occupies it must be a dependable confidant and strong ally of the president. In the same vein, whoever goes after the president’s chief of staff is definitely gunning for the president. Little wonder why the name of Mike Oghiadomhe had been bandied back and forth as either having been sacked or arrested in connection with the phone call Henry Okah claimed to have received from a presidential aide. In spite of the repeated declaration by the presidency that Oghiadomhe had no issues to answer and was still working, another online media organisation followed with a report that he had been arrested for interrogation. Desperation should have a limit! No matter how much a lie is twisted or how many times it is recycled and put in circulation, it can never translate to truth.”
Yerima Ngama
He was the former minister of state for finance under former President Goodluck Jonathan between 2012 and 2014. Ngama, who is from Yobe state, was educated at the Universities of Maiduguri and Glasgow, respectively. As the minister of state for finance, he was in charge of the monthly allocations meeting where funds were shared among the three tiers of the government. However, following his interest in the governorship seat of his state just before the 2015 elections, President Jonathan relieved him of his appointment in a cabinet reshuffle that also affected former aviation minister, Stella Odua, and minister of Niger Delta Affairs, Godsday Orubebe. Initially, a member of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), he later defected to the All Progressives Congress (APC) in late 2014, in what he said was the need to help reposition his state with the APC which was gunning for the centre then. A captain of industry, he was a board member of several financial institutions like First Bank of Nigeria, FBN Mortgage and FBN micro-finance banks. Since he left the cabinet, Ngama has not realised his initial desire of running for Yobe government house even though he has been a member of the now ruling APC. While it is not clear what he is doing presently, it is rumoured that he is fully engaged in business ventures.
Hauwa Baba Ahmed
In the line-up of foremost newscasters that the Nigeria Television Authority (NTA) ever paraded, the name Hauwa Baba Ahmed, now Hauwa Shaibu, stands out. What is remarkable about her is the fact that at a time when it was thought that as a result of her cultural and religious backgrounds, especially as someone from the northern axis of the country, could not attain a celebrity status on television, she did. Hauwa, in the course of her job at the nation’s premier television station, combined beauty with intellect in the discharge of her duties. Until 2018, when the NTA brought her and other former employees back on the tube momentarily in commemoration of its 40th anniversary, not much was heard about her.
Speaking about her, a TV presenter with Arewa Television, Madinah Muazu, said she got her inspiration from Hauwa. According to her, “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.”
