Abadula Gemeda ( om, Abbaa Duulaa Gammadaa; am, አባዱላ ገመዳ; born 5 July 1958) is an Ethiopian politician who became the former Speaker of the

House of Peoples' Representatives The House of Peoples' Representatives is the lower house of the Ethiopia, Ethiopian Federal Parliamentary Assembly. Located in the capital Addis Ababa, the House has 547 members. All are elected in theory for five-year term in single-seat constit ...

, the lower chamber of the

Ethiopian Parliament The Federal Parliamentary Assembly ( am, የፌዴራል ፓርላማ ምክር ቤት, Ye-Fēdēralawī Parilama Mikir Bēt) is Ethiopia's federal legislature. It consists of two chambers: *The House of Federation (upper chamber) *The Hou ...

, from 2010 to 2017. Previously, from 2005 to 2010, he was President of the

Oromia Region Oromia (Amharic: ) ( om, Oromiyaa) is a regional state in Ethiopia and the homeland of the Oromo people. The capital of Oromia is Addis Ababa. It is bordered by the Somali Region to the east; the Amhara Region, the Afar Region and the Benish ...

. He was succeeded in that position by Alemayehu Atomsa.

Life

Abadula Gemeda was born ''Minase Woldegiorgis'' in

Arsi Zone Arsi ( om, Godina Arsii) is a zone in Oromia Region of Ethiopia, named after a clan of the Oromo, who inhabit in the area. Arsi is bordered on the south by Bale Zone, on the southwest by the West Arsi Zone, on the northwest by East Shewa Zone, ...

, Oromia Region, on 5 July 1958. The name Abadula Gemeda is a pseudonym or 'nom de guerre' he obtained at some point during his life. ''Abbaa Duulaa'' is the traditional title of the war leader of the

Oromo people The Oromo (pron. Oromo language, Oromo: ''Oromoo'') are a Cushitic people, Cushitic ethnic group native to the Oromia region of Ethiopia and parts of Northern Kenya, who speak the Oromo language (also called ''Afaan Oromoo'' or ''Oromiffa''), ...

, an aristocratic

horse name A horse name is a secondary noble title or a popular name for members of Ethiopian royalty; in some cases the "horse names" are the only name known for a ruler. They take the form of "father of X", where "X" is the name of the person's warhorse ...

. Abadula has a mix of military and civilian education. His military education was obtained from the Defense University of China in Military Leadership in 1995. His civilian education was focused on public administration. His Bachelor and Master's of Arts degrees from the US were both obtained from Century University in 2001 and 2004, respectively. Abadula also obtained his master's degree from

Greenwich University , mottoeng = "To learn, to do, to achieve" , former_name = Woolwich Polytechnic(1890–1970)Thames Polytechnic(1970–1992) , established = , type = Public university , budget = £214.9 million (2020) , administrative_staff = , chancel ...

, UK, in 2009.

Political career

With the change in government in 1991, Abadula became the chief of operations of the National Defense Force. After five years of service, he became the chief of intelligence in 1996. He was appointed as commander of the ground force of the National Defense Force in 1998. He reached the rank of Major General. On October 16, 2001 he was appointed as Minister of National Defense. Moving to a civilian profile, Abadula became President of the Oromia Region in 2005. Abadula is considered one of the few influential politicians within the

OPDO The Oromo Democratic Party ( om, Paartii Demokraatawaa Oromoo, ODP) was a political party in Ethiopia, and part of the alliance with the Amhara National Democratic Movement, the South Ethiopian Peoples' Democratic Front and the Tigrayan Peoples ...

. In 2010 he became Speaker of the House of Representatives. He resigned on 7 October 2017; the ''

Addis Standard ''Addis Standard'' is an Ethiopian monthly social, economic and politics, political news magazine publishing, published and distributed by Jakenn Publishing Plc, and was established in February 2011 by Tsedale Lemma. The magazine has an independ ...

'' reported that it was in protest of Federal government's handling of clashes surrounding the boundary dispute between the Oromo and Somali regions. However he later withdrew his resignation after consultations in this government, remaining in office until April 2018 when he was replaced by

Muferiat Kamil Muferihat Kamil Ahmed (Amharic: ሙፈሪሃት ካሚል አሕመድ, ''mufärihat kamil ähmäd''; born 1976) is an Ethiopian politician who is the current Ministry of Labour and Skills Development in Ethiopia. She was the Speaker of the House ...

. Immediately thereafter he was appointed National Security Advisor. His tenure was however short-lived; he was "honourably retired" in June 2018 less than two months after being named to the post.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Gemeda, Abadula 1958 births Living people Presidents of Oromia Region Speakers of the House of Peoples' Representatives (Ethiopia) 21st-century Ethiopian politicians People from Oromia Region Oromo Democratic Party politicians