Alhaji Adamu Atta (October 18, 1927 – May 1, 2014) was the first civilian governor of the

Nigeria Nigeria ( ), , ig, Naìjíríyà, yo, Nàìjíríà, pcm, Naijá , ff, Naajeeriya, kcg, Naijeriya officially the Federal Republic of Nigeria, is a country in West Africa. It is situated between the Sahel to the north and the Gulf o ...

Kwara State Kwara State ( yo, Ìpínlẹ̀ Kwárà), is a state in Western Nigeria, bordered to the east by Kogi State, to the north by Niger state, and to the south by Ekiti, Osun, and Oyo states, while its western border makes up part of the internation ...

during the Second Republic, representing the

National Party of Nigeria The National Party of Nigeria (NPN) was the dominant political party in Nigeria during the Second Republic (1979–1983). History Formation The party's beginning could be traced to private and sometimes secret meetings among key Northern Nigerian ...

(NPN).

Background

Adamu Atta belonged to

Indigenous peoples Indigenous peoples are culturally distinct ethnic groups whose members are directly descended from the earliest known inhabitants of a particular geographic region and, to some extent, maintain the language and culture of those original people ...

Ebira The Ebira also known as Egbira people are an ethno-Natural language, linguistic group of central Nigeria. Most Ebira people are from Kogi State, Nasarawa State. Until the separation of Kogi State from Kwara State, Okene was seen as the administrati ...

land, in the present

Kogi State Kogi State is a state in the North Central region of Nigeria, bordered to the west by the states of Ekiti and Kwara, to the north by the Federal Capital Territory, to the northeast by Nasarawa State, to the northwest by Niger State, to the s ...

. Born in

Okene Okene is a town in the Nigerian state of Kogi. The town is based in a Local Government Area of the same name. Okene runs along the A2 highway. It had an area of 328 km² and a population of 320,260 at the 2006 census. The predominant people ...

in 1927, he was the son of warrant chief Ibrahima Atta, whom the British granted wide powers under the Native Authority system, which undermined the traditional process for selection of a leader in the community. He became the first civilian governor of the state, representing the

(NPN), although he came from a minority ethnic group. In January 1967, he was permanent secretary for the federal Ministry of Finance, and was in discussions with the

Soviet Union The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, it was nominally a federal union of fifteen national ...

over possible development loans.

Governor of Kwara State

Atta defeated Obatemi Usman for a seat in the Constituent Assembly in 1977. Usman appealed the vote to his Oziogu clan, accusing the Aniku sub-clan of Adavi, to which Atta belonged, of occupying most of the public offices in Ebira land. Atta was responsible for establishing the Obangede Specialist Hospital.

Dead

Alhaji Adamu Attah, is dead on Thursday in his Abuja residence after a protracted illnessHe was buried in his Kuroko, Okene residence at about 5 p.m. according to Islamic rite, aged 83.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Atta, Adamu 1927 births 2014 deaths Alumni of Achimota School Governors of Kwara State National Party of Nigeria politicians