Adamawa declares 3-day mourning over former Governor’s death

Wilberforce Juta, who served as governor of Gongola State, Nigeria in 1983 during the Nigerian Second Republic, and later was appointed Nigerian High Commissioner to Zimbabwe, has passed on.

“The roll is called up yonder! The Noble Baba Juta has gone to be with the Lord,” a friend of the bereaved family, Chief Timaus Mathias, said on his Facebook page.

Wilberforce Juta, who was deputy governor of Gongola State from 1979, became governor early in 1983 when his principal, Abubakar Barde, resigned from office.

Juta remained governor till October 1983 when his successor, Alhaji Bamangar Tukur, was elected. In a message confirming Wilberforce Juta’s passing on, the Adamawa State Governor, Ahmadu Fintiri, said it was a shocking development.

He declared three days for the state to mourn him. Fintiri said in a statement by his Press Secretary, Humwashi Wonosikou, that Juta was an epitome of humanness and service.

Fintiri added that Wilberforce Juta, who was Nigeria’s ambassador to Zimbabwe from 2000 to 2004 and a chieftain of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) until his death on Saturday, would be missed greatly by the PDP and Adamawa State.

Juta was one of the founders of the People’s Democratic Party in Adamawa State in 1998. The PDP won the state and national elections in 1999. President Olusegun Obasanjo appointed him High Commissioner to Zimbabwe. Juta toured strife-ridden farms in August 2001, shortly after 21 white farmers had been released from jail. He urged Zimbabwe to resolve its problems in the interests of all its people irrespective of race.