The University of Abuja community was thrown into a bewildering state of an uncontrollable painful mourning on Saturday, May 29, 2021, following the news of the sudden and tragic death of Prof. & Mrs. Peter B. Maidoki. This heartbreaking fatal motor accident occurred along the Abuja-Kaduna highway. The news was received among his colleagues with disbelieving ears, loud shouts and with other expressive reactions such as the devil is a liar, Oh my God, shame unto the devil, etc. Again, these spontaneous reactions were followed by squeezed, clutched and angry countenances among his colleagues in the Department of Public Administration, Faculty of Management Sciences, and in the larger university community.
Saturday May 29, 2021 everyone would recall, was a special day for different groups of people in some respects but particularly for those in the sports and political spheres of life. In Nigeria’s political scene for example, it was a day marking the 6th anniversary of the Buhari administration which was inaugurated on May 29, 2015. Prior to the Buhari administration, that date was celebrated as Nigeria’s Democracy Day to mark the return to democratic governance in 1999 – a celebration which has now been moved to June 12 of every year by President Muhammadu Buhari.
That Saturday again, we would all recall, was a special day for millions of sports-loving people across the globe as Chelsea and Manchester City were under serious tension waiting for the kick-off time of the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) Champions League Final at Porto, Portugal. So in both sports and political circles, Saturday 29 May 2021 was a day to remember for a long time. This was the background of the ambience of this supposedly exciting day for many when the news of the death of Prof. Maidoki and his wife came as a bombshell. The sad news suddenly changed the prevailing mood of the day into a very gloomy one. That day would no doubt be remembered for many years to come by their children, relations, colleagues, friends and neighbours, than the remarkable things that happened in politics and sports that same day.
But how did this puzzling, disconcerting and horrifying accident happen? Prof. Peter Maidoki and wife along with one of his brothers were returning from a burial that took place in their country home, in Kachia Local Government Area of Kaduna State that Saturday when the accident happened. The accident we were told occurred when his car and one of these ever-present and ‘terrorizing long vehicles’on our roads, had a fatal contact along the now notorious Abuja-Kaduna expressway. Again, as we were meant to understand, the scene of the fatal accident was unbelievably frightening to tell you how these ‘terrorizing’ vehicles are daily cutting many lives of productive minds short on our roads.
Prof. Maidoki was full of life during the week of his death. We personally met along the corridor earlier in the week in an encounter that was characterized by our usual jokes, followed by uncontrollably loud and contagious laughter on both sides. For both of us, we had common way of greeting that would instantaneously generate entertaining jokes and hilarious mood enough to banish any threat of work-related stress in either of us. As the current Head of Department of Public Administration Associate Professor Tafida Ahmed also recounted, Prof. Maidoki was on Campus on Friday evening May 28, 2021to deliver his lecture in one of the professional postgraduate degree programmes of the Department. Dr. Tafidaeloquently narrated, his meeting Prof. Maidoki in the presence of Prof. Abdulhamid Sulaiman-Ozoho that Friday, was equally characterized by Prof. Maidoki’s usual ‘tension-releasing’ jokes and loud hilarious laughter. Prof. Maidoki’s usual greeting pattern marketed him well as a friend of all without any noticeable distinction.
Prof. Maidoki’s death would therefore be a great loss to the Department of Public Administration which he joined as one of its foundation staff. He later served the Department as its Head from 2007 to 2009. The Department which was established in 1992 has had Prof. Victor Ekhator, Dr. Babayo Musa, Dr. Kuna Mohammed and Prof. James Ojobo as Heads of Department, before Prof. Maidoki became the Head in 2007.
At the Faculty level, Prof. Maidoki served as the Dean of the Faculty of Management Sciences. He completed his term before the outbreak of the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic in 2020. And again at the university-wide level, Prof. Maidoki served as the Director of Entrepreneurship Development Studies under the Vice-Chancellorship of Prof. J. S. Adelabu.
Death has been very unkind to my Department lately as its cold hand took away Associate Professor Isa Mohamed last year 2020 during the period of COVID-19 nation-wide lockdown.Dr. Isa who succeeded Maidoki as HOD (2009-2011) had meritoriously served the Gombe State Government as Honourable Commissioner for Higher Education and had joined back the Department before his death. At the time of his untimely death, Dr. Isa had been successfully assessed internally for his full professorship and was waiting for the completion of his external assessment process. He too like Prof. Maidoki was one of the foundation staff of the Department.
The entire university community will badly miss the sudden departure of Prof. Peter B. Maidoki who had served it for close to three decades. The entire residents of the Giri Staff Quarters will painfully miss one of the couples whose presence over the years helped to keep the community in a hilarious mood. The staff of the Faculty of Management Sciences will greatly miss the ever-functional presence of one of its past Deans. But the worst hit, are no doubt the staff and students of the Department of Public Administration who will be painfully deprived of the steady, functional and vivacious services of Prof. Peter Maidoki. One could only imagine the great sense of loss which would be felt by many undergraduate and postgraduate students he was supervising prior to his death. The same goes for the final year students who took his Course in the just-completed second-semester examinations
At a personal level, the death of Prof. Maidoki is a great loss to me. As one of my close office neighbours, his office is not only next to mine but its nearness added great value in good inter-personal relations. Again, the death of prof. Maidoki whose office is directly opposite to that Dr. Isa Mohammed (who died earlier)would naturally generate anxiety, particularly for those of us whose offices are close to theirs. We can, however, take solace in the Scriptural passage that assures us of tomorrow simply because He (our Redeemer) lives. Yes because He lives, all the children of Prof. & Mrs. Maidoki can confidently face tomorrow.This is everyone’s fervent and humble prayers for all the children.
Lastly, according to the burial arrangements (circulated by the UniAbuja Christian Community), there would be a Wake Keep for Prof. Maidoki and his beloved wife at their residence in the University Staff Quarters, Giri on Thursday, June 3, 2021 at 4pm. The Burial of the couple will take place on Friday, June 4, 2021 in their home town Kwagiri, in Kachia LGA of Kaduna State.
On behalf of my colleagues particularly the current Acting Dean of the Faculty of Management Sciences, Prof. Y. M. Salaudeen and the entire members of the Department and Faculty, my sincere condolences go to the entire family of Prof. & Mrs. Peter B. Maidoki. May their gentle souls rest in perfect peace– Amen.
Prof. Isaac N. Obasi of the Department of Public Administration, University of Abuja, is a Visiting (Adjunct) Research Professor at the Anti-Corruption Academy of Nigeria, ICPC, Abuja, Email: nnamdizik@gmail.com
