Saraki Appoints Baba Ahmed New Chief of Staff

By Dipo Olowookere

Mr Hakeem Baba Ahmed has been announced by the Senate President, Mr Bukola Saraki, as his new Chief of Staff.

A statement issued on Tuesday by the Senate President’s media aide, Mr Yusuph Olaniyonu, disclosed that Mr Ahmed’s appointment takes “immediate effect.”

The appointee, a columnist with the Daily Trust newspapers, was Permanent Secretary at various times in the Presidency and later Ministry of Commerce and Industry.

He further became Secretary of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) and holds the national honour of Officer of the Federal Republic (OFR).

The 61-year-old Saraki’s new Chief of Staff was described in the statement as a consummate public servant and intellectual, who started his working career as a lecturer with the then University of Sokoto now known as Usman Dan Fodio University, Sokoto, before joining the Kaduna State Civil Service and then later transferred to the Federal Civil Service where he rose to become Permanent Secretary.

Mr Ahmed was educated at the Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria, London School of Economics and University of Sussex, both in the United Kingdom and holds a Doctor of Philosophy degree.