Our last man standing

It would be 40 years this year when our colleagues went into public service in 1977. I had intentions to put together a celebratory piece to commemorate the milestone and was pleasantly pushed to it by the news that circulated on the retirement of one of that bunch, Ibrahim Ndahi Auta, the Chief Judge of the Federal High Court, who would be hanging his silk this September. He would probably be our last man standing among a unique set that had given so much to the service of the country. The set has paid its dues. It has provided for the country notable politicians, great technocrats, and captains of banks and industries. 

My intentions were somewhat parochial. Actually I refer to that group of students admitted into School of Basic Studies (SBS), Ahmadu Bello University, (ABU) Zaria, who reported to the Samaru Campus in early January 1972 to begin a pre-degree, one-and-a-half year, course leading to admission into the various courses run by the university. In September 1973 we all panned out and were absorbed by the various faculties of the university as first-year students. Most of us graduated in 1976. The architects, medical and veterinary science students and all those whose courses were of longer duration graduated two or so years after. After serving the compulsory one year national service, most joined the public service in August 1977. Of course the lawyers among us would then be rounding up Law school and could only start practice the following year.

Ibrahim was among that group that reported in 1972 in the SBS joining my class of Arts and Social Science. The SBS was a unique school established by a visionary Vice-Chancellor of ABU, Professor Ishaya Audu, who was trying to find ways of finding suitable candidates of Northern States origin to take advantage of the expansion of University’s academic programs. The University was the only one in the North which was then owned and run jointly by the Northern States. The lucky students admitted were to have all the rights and privileges of undergraduates and they were also to be taught by University lecturers. They would also have unfettered access to the libraries, laboratories and all other infrastructural facilities that other undergraduates enjoyed.

The SBS was to prepare students completing the fifth form for admission strictly only into ABU. Most of the students were drawn mainly from public schools in the North though there were quite a number from schools located in other parts of the country. We were the third set to come to ABU through the School of Basic Studies. On arrival in Samaru, our integration into the university life was without any hindrance, the pace was fast and exciting. As integrated as we were into the campus life unkind cynics were wont to refer to the SBS as Ishaya Audu Secondary School. It never bothered anyone, and as our set, and others who came after us, completed the program and went on to have a seamless integration into proper undergraduate courses, other Universities in the land – Ibadan, Unilag, Ife, Nsukka, Benin – took note and established their own Schools of Basic Studies.

At the completion of the program in 1973, Ibrahim and some of us left the Samaru campus for the Institute of Administration, better known as Kongo campus. He along with colleagues such as Ibrahim Mairiga, Yisa Abraham, Abdu Aboki, Fatima Giwa and others went to the Faculty of Law while I, and others, was just across the road in the School of Business. Kongo, one of the many campuses of ABU was small with a compact population of less than one thousand, and even so more than half of that number was made of sojourners attending courses of short duration. We had a robust student life partaking in all activities and the shenanigans including students’ riots and strikes. Fortunately in those years, University lecturers never went on strike and so we had an uninterrupted, smooth academic calendar making it possible for us to graduate exactly as programmed, three years later. Ibrahim was an activist on the campus. He had a genial nature attracting friends easily and he even used to go by the nickname, Amigo, which is a well-used Spanish word meaning friend. When he stood for an elective post, Director of Sports, in the Student Union Government of 1974/75 session he won hands down, more or less because he was a popular student who was also well known in the sporting circle.

After the National Service, Ibrahim came to his home state, Borno, in 1978, to take up appointment as a Chief Magistrate in the Judiciary. It would be the first time he would come to live in Borno. After all he was mostly raised in Jos by his father Madaki Auta Ndahi who had lived there for most of his adult life. The father hailed from Laksheri, a sleepy fishing village now in Hawul local government of Borno State. Auta Ndahi was an adventurous young man who trekked to Jos in his early teens in 1935 searching for greener pastures. After seeing the opportunities he decided to live there permanently making a career in the Jos Native Authority Police and later in the flourishing mining industry. Ibrahim was raised in Jos along with all his siblings. He even attended Government Secondary School Kuru.

By the 1970s Madaki Auta had garnered enough experience to return to Hawul to lead his community initially as councillor and later as the Chairman of the local government during the Second Republic. When the Second Republic was abolished, Madaki Auta settled into the mould of a community leader not only for Hawul but for the generality of Biu Emirate. He was a Christian leader of strong convictions and was relentless in the pursuit of his community interest. I had many memorable encounters with him when I was heading the Political Department in the Governor’s Office in the late 1980s. In that period there were no political parties and we had to deal with community leaders to know community grievances and/or explain government’s position to them. For me meetings with Madaki Auta were always convivial because at the very onset I always mentioned to him that Ibrahim was my classmate. Whenever I did that his face would lit up and we would have a very cordial discussion. Madaki Auta passed on in 2007. 

 While serving in the Borno State Judiciary Ibrahim Auta was called upon to serve in the State House, Ribadu road, Lagos, as a Principal State Counsel from 1980 to 1983. After the Shagari Government was overthrown he returned to Maiduguri to continue his career in the Judiciary. Our path crossed again when in 1988 he was appointed as Borno State Attorney General and Commissioner of Justice. I was then heading the Political Desk in the Governor’s Office but Ibrahim was destined not to stay long holding that political post as he was elevated to the Bench just a year later. He was in the Borno State High Court for only a short period before he moved to the Federal High Court in 1990. He had a brilliant career in the Federal High Court. Many of those who came before him in his court testified to the profundity of his judgements that were hardly ever overturned. It is therefore no wonder that he rose to the top position of the Chief Judge in 2011.

As the lights now gradually dimmed on our last man standing, it is time to reflect on the services rendered by this remarkable set that were involved in all the activities in the public spheres in the last forty years. There were successes and failures, and there were lessons to be learnt, particularly for those who would want to, and are strong enough to carry on.