Posted by By KENNY ASHAKA, Kaduna on
The former military governor of old Gongola and Benue States, Colonel Yohana Madaki (rtd), is dead.
The former military governor of old Gongola and Benue States, Colonel Yohana Madaki (rtd), is dead.
Col Madaki, 63, died on Saturday in a London hospital where he had gone for treatment.
The news of the death of the former governor, who was the principal partner in Yohana Madaki and Co., a firm of legal practitioners based in Kaduna, filtered into Kaduna on Sunday, leaving the state in a mourning mood.
He joined politics in 1998 after retiring from active military service and was the first national legal adviser of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).
He was the first person to become a two time national legal adviser of the ruling PDP and chairman of the board of directors of the Security and Exchange Commission (SEC).
It was during his tenure as governor of Gongola state that the Koma people of present day Adamawa state were discovered and brought to national limelight.
Early callers at the family home along the highbrow Jabi Road in the Ungwan Rimi GRA include former Minister for Works, Garba Ali Madaki and a member of the House of Representatives, representing Zango Kataf/Jaba Federal constituency, Mrs Ruth Ango.
Others include Mrs Charity Shekari, widow of the late deputy governor of Kaduna State, Stephen Shekari and leader of the Civil Rights Congress, Mallam Shenu Sani.
The rest are the Kaduna State Governor, Ahmed Mohammed Makarfi, his deputy, Patrick Yakowa, and some members of the state executive council.
The late Yohana Madaki is survived by one wife, five children and three grand children. He had served the Nigerian Army in several capacities.
His remains will be buried in his village, Sufurang Kalgi, in the Zango Kataf Local Government Area of the state on a date to be announced by his family.
He was said to have travelled to London for medical treatment with his wife a few weeks ago.