If Pulaakiu is the life code of the estimated nearly 60 million Fulbe worldwide, the Adamawa stock is at the top of the virtue ladder.
Those of us that were born during pre-independent Nigeria, and even those who were born two decades after, still maintain pulaaku almost to the core.
We grew up well groomed in observance of the original code; respect for parents and elders in general is the number one rule. You speak to them in low tone and never look them in the eye when they are talking to you – something that most of us maintain to date.
In other cultures however, avoiding eye contact with elders or law enforcers is considered a sign of untrustworthiness or guilt.
There are also certain trades and professions that is considered either taboo, denigrating or undignified for a fulani to venture into; butchery is one of them.
Therefore, when in the 1980s, Alhaji Ahmed Joda established a mordern abatuor in his farm near Fufore (about 18 kilometers from Yola), and was trucking beef to Lagos in refrigerated freighters and also sold some in his Yola supermarket, toungues begun to wag.
How could “Pulloh dimo,” a man of high standing in the country who retired as Federal Permanent Secretary and also coming from a respectable family of islamic scholars and Khadis, turn butcher, asked some locals.
The late Ahmed Joda was however not your typical Pulloh. He was far ahead of his generation and even the next. Having had a wonderful career as journalist/civil servant, he emerged among few Nigerians of his day that retired from service without amassing ill-gotten wealth and had to take loan from bank to establish a cattle ranch.
The mordern ranch, which featured international polo ground and some indoor recreational facilities, was the first of its kind in the old Gongola State, that drew a lot of interest from far and near. He imported live pasture (grass) from Argentina which he planted in the farm for the feeding of his special breed cattle for quality beef and milk.
He was an entrepreneur that made retirement look fun and never bothered about what the locals or anybody else for that matter, thought or perceived of his then new status as beef seller.
Introducing modernity in a conservative society within the walls of Yola, the capital of pulaaku, was a daring move as he risked being mocked and made fun of. Whether he knew it or not however, Alhaji Ahmed Joda set the pace, broken the jinx, became a model and opened the door for the younger generation of Fulbe to venture into previous trades that were hitherto considered lowly or demeaning.
Although the beef business collapsed after about a year or two due to distance and haulage logistics problems, the diary section thrived very well.
The late super parmenent secretary had a fulfilled life, and for better part, was much more busier in retirement than in service. He was sought after by virtually every administration since 1979, to contribute extra quota to his fatherland.
His contribution to the development of Adamawa State was quite immense, including influencing the contruction of the expanded Gombe-Yola trunk A road in the 1970s, Numan and Yola bridges over river Benue and the first higher institution in the entire defunct Gongola State, the Federal College of Education (FCE), Yola.
The widowed Alhaji Ahmed Joda, a paragon of mordern fulbe, was 91 and survived by four children and many grand children.
May Allah forgive his shortcomings and grant him Jannatul-Firdaus.
Iyawa is former Nigerian ambassador to Mexico
