Zodi Ikhia

Who is Zodi Ikhia?

Zodi Ikhia was a Nigerien politician.

Ikhia came from a wealthy Tuareg family; his father was a prominent person from Taghagar. He received his primary education in Niamey and his higher education at Ecole William Ponty in Dakar. In 1941 he began teaching for nomadic schools. He went on to become school director, first for the Ecole des enfants de troupe in Bingerville and later Ecole des Kel Gress d'Arzérori.

In 1946, he joined the Nigerien Progressive Party, the Nigerien affiliate of the African Democratic Rally. In 1948 he was elected to the general council of Tahoua. Starting in 1948, he became active in the Nigerien teachers trade union movement. In 1949, he joined the Union of Nigerien Independents and Sympathizers, a group affiliated with the Democratic and Socialist Union of the Resistance. He was elected to the French National Assembly in the 1951 elections, on the UNIS list headed by Georges Condat. The next year he was elected to the Nigerien Territorial Assembly, representing Filingué, and to the Grand Council of French West Africa. He remained in the Grand Council until 1957.