A very rare civil servant, Alhaji Gidado Idris, GCON, will be 80 on Sunday March 15. He served his country for forty-two years. And he has seen it all. He has shaped and witnessed history in his years of service.
An adage says” If you let me frame the question, I will get the answer I want”. Alhaji Gidado Idris, born into the royal Idris family in the ancient city of Zaria, framed the question of his career in the civil service years ago and got the answer he desired by rising to the pinnacle of his profession before retiring in 1999.
Soft spoken and highly principled, he cultivated a deep friendship from the lowest to the highest across the country. He is like an encyclopaedia of events with accurate dates. He remembers all and forgets nothing.
A trusted aide to the late Sardauna of Sokoto, Sir Ahmadu Bello (1910-1966), the first and last premier of Northern Nigeria; an in-law to President Shehu Usman Aliyu Shagari; he is also a trusted friend to Major General Muhammadu Buhari, General Ibrahim Babangida, General Sanni Abacha (1943-1998), General Abdusalam Abubakar and former Vice President Atiku Abubakar. A very close aide to President Olusegun Obasanjo, who awarded him the national honour of a Commander of the Order of the Niger (CON) in 1978, his wife Hajia Maryam Idris was the best friend of Hajia Maryam Babangida (1948-2009) – which was a friendship that started from their days as secretariat students at the Federal Training Centre, Kaduna and spanned over 40 years, until Maryam Babangida passed on on December 27, 2009.
Alhaji Gidado Idris cherishes friendship and builds trust among friends. On the directive of Sir Ahmadu Bello, he drafted the dethronement letter of the former Emir of Kano, Alhaji Muhammed Sanusi, the father of the present Emir, in August 1963. A copy of the letter is still with him today.
On January 14, 1966, the then Premier of Western Nigeria, Chief Samuel Ladoke Akintola (1910-1966) in company of Chief Richard Abimbola Osuolale Akinjide flew to Kaduna in a chartered helicopter to warn Sir Ahmadu Bello of an imminent coup d’état and of a grand plan to eliminate some key politicians, including both of them. Sir Ahmadu Bello advised Chief Akintola that there was no point in running from the country, and that if he was truly the leader of his people it would be most honourable to die among them. Shortly after their departure for Ibadan, Sir Ahmadu took a drive round Kaduna in an open car. Seated besides Ahmadu Bello was Gidado Idris. A few hours later Ahmadu Bello was killed. Gidado Idris had the misfortune of identifying the corpse of the late premier and that of his wife, Hajia Yanguwan who was also killed along with him.
With others Alhaji Gidado Idris arranged a befitting burial for the late premier according to Muslim rites. A few days later, Major Chukwuma Patrick Kaduna Nzeogwu (1937-1967) assumed power in Kaduna. He then appointed Mr. Ignatius Julius Dawer Dulong as the Secretary to Government and Head of Service in the absence of Alhaji Alli Akilu who had been hidden by the Northern Nigeria Police Commissioner, Alhaji Muhammadu Diko Yusuf from being killed. In present day Nigeria, such an appointment will be greeted with a thanksgiving ceremony, but Ambassador Ignatius Julius Dawer Dulong declined the appointment insisting that he was junior to Alhaji Akilu and that procedure must be followed.
Alhaji Gidado Idris who witnessed the drama once told me that, “in life one must be righteous in all things”. Incidentally, Alhaji Muhammadu Dikko Yusuf later became the third Inspector General of Police and served between 1975-1979. He was the one who took traditional rulers from Northern Nigeria to the Ibadan meeting between July 27 to 30, 1966, during which General Johnson Thomas Uwanaikwe Ironsi (1924-1966) was killed. He co-ordinated their safety through Ibadan and Ilorin back to their respective palaces.
The Constituent Assembly adjourned sine die on June 5, 1978 because members of the assembly became headstrong and recalcitrant and wanted to implement Executive responsibilities. The regime of General Olusegun Obasanjo was worried over the adjournment because it wanted to keep its October 1, 1979 handover date to civilian rule pledge to Nigerians. Hence, General Obasanjo summoned the Chairman of the Assembly and former Chief Justice of Uganda, Mr. Justice Egbert Udo Udoma (1919-1998) and Alhaji Gidado Idris on June 7, 1978 to Dodan Barracks, the then seat of government, with an order to produce a new Constitution before May 1979, so that the Supreme Military Council could ratify the new Constitution before departure. With the assistance of the Chief draughtsman of the Assembly, Justice John Hezekiah Omololu Thomas, Justice Udo Udoma and Alhaji Gidado Idris sat for weeks and months to produce the 254-paged 1979 constitution without reconvening the Constituent Assembly. For doing a good job, General Obasanjo awarded Justice Udo Udoma the honour of a Commander of the Federal Republic (CFR), while equally bestowing the CON on Alhaji Gidado Idris.
After the death of General Sanni Abacha on June 8, 1998, it was Alhaji Gidado Idris as the Secretary of the Armed Forces Ruling Council, in his position as the Secretary to the Government of the Federation, who conducted the stormy meeting of the Council where General Abdusalam Abubakar emerged as the new Head of State in the early hours of June 9 1998 in Abuja. I still remember the way and manner he announced the new Head of State to a fatigued media and members of the secretariat of the Executive Council who had not slept for 26 hours. To me it is still the longest day of my life.
Alhaji Gidado is a product of the Institute of Administration, Zaria and the University of Leeds in the United Kingdom. He was appointed District officer for Benue, Sardauna and Adamawa provinces, which in the present-day Nigeria could be regarded as Governor. He later became the private and personal Secretary to the late Premier, Sir Ahmadu Bello. He served as Permanent Secretary in Kaduna state from 1971 to 1975, was appointed as the Secretary of the Constitution Drafting Committee in 1975, became the Secretary of the Constituent Assembly in 1976, and was the first Clerk of the National Assembly in the Presidential System of Government in 1979. After the overthrow of the Presidential System of Government, he was appointed Secretary and Director of Administration of the National Institute of Strategic Affairs in Kuru, near Jos. Between 1984 and 1986, he was appointed as the Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of Police Affairs, and from 1986 to 1988 he became the Chairman of the Productivity, Prices and Income board. Shortly after, he served as the Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of Aviation. When General Sanni Abacha took over in November 17, 1993, Alhaji Gidado Idris was made the Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of Finance and a few months later he was appointed the Secretary to the Government of the Federation, a post he held till he retired in 1999. Very Urbane and shy, Alhaji Gidado Idris is a workaholic.
These days he is seen in the company of Alhaji Yahaya Salami and Senator Dangana Idayanko carrying his golf kits to play at the IBB golf club with the likes of Alhaji Ibrahim Hamza, Alhaji Yayale Ahmed, Alhaji Babagana Kingigbe, and others. His value has not declined even in retirement for people such as Emeka Offor, Senator Musa Adede, Alhaji Shehu Malami, Olu Adekunle, Dr. Goke Adegoroye, Col. Sabo Dasuki (rtd.), Col. Lawan Gwadabe (rtd.), Dr. Akin Ogunlewe, Dr. Hakeem Baba Ahmed, Alhaji Baba Farouk, Dr. Aliyu Babangida and others to constantly seek him out. Nothing gladdens his heart these days than to watch the Super Eagles and Arsenal football win their matches. He has paid his dues. He is a fulfilled man and totally at peace with himself.
Eric Teniola, a former Director at the Presidency, lives in Lagos.
