Important Points to Know About NNPP’s Kano Governor-elect–Umar S.Idris

BY: Umar Idris Shu’aibu, Kano

Abba Kabir Yusuf, popularly known as Abba Gida-Gida, is the Governor elect of the New Nigerian People’s Party (NNPP) in Kano State.

You can recall that the NNPP won National Assembly seats in Kano with a landslide victory, which serve as a great factor and catalyst that made Engr. Abba Kabir Yusuf to win the state governorship election.

Many political analysts linked the recent success of the party to the political strategy of the party’s Presidential candidate, Engr. Dr. Rabi’u Musa Kwankwaso, and the legacy he left that torches the life of many state students.

A two-term Governor in Kano State, Kwankwaso was once a Defence Minister during the second tenure of Chief Olusegun Obasanjo, and a Senator representing Kano Central Senatorial district between 2015 – 2019.

By the way, Abba Kabir Yusuf, who win Kano State Gubernatorial election is a close associate of Dr. Rabi’u Kwankwaso who helped the Former Governor in achieving a lot of his ambition during the second tenure of his administration.

Looking at his capacity, Abba attended Sumaila primary school between 1968 and 1975.

He then proceeded to Government Secondary School Dawakin Tofa and later moved to Government Secondary school Lautai in Gumel where he completed his secondary education in 1980.

The NNPP Governorship candidate bagged a National Diploma (ND) from the Federal Polytechnic Mubi in 1985 and a Higher National Diploma (HND) in Civil Engineering from Kaduna Polytechnic in 1989.

He later obtained a Postgraduate Diploma in management and a Master of Business Administration (MBA) from Bayero University, Kano.

This will be a very good chance for him also to offer solutions to many developmental problems that the previous administration did not have been able to address.

A 60-year-old Abba Kabir Yusuf, worked with the Kano State Water Resources Engineering and Construction Agency (WRECA), a sister Agency of the Kano State Water Board, and ended his Civil Service career in the Kano State Ministry of Water Resources.

His political journey started when his mentor, Senator Rabi’u Musa Kwankwaso appointed him as Personal Assistant and later Special Assistant (Administration) between 1999 – 2003.

Having good and smooth working conditions with Abba, Kwankwaso also picked him as his aide when he was appointed as the Minister of Defence.

Abba was also appointed by the late President Umaru Musa Yar’adua as the chairman of, Governing Board of the National Institute for Educational Planning and Administration (NIEPA), Ondo State from 2009 to 2011.

During Kwankwaso’s second tenure in office, Abba was appointed as the First Principal Private Secretary (PPS) to the Governor; and subsequently the state’s Commissioner for Works, Housing, and Transport.

Abba contested his first governorship election in Kano 2019 and is now contesting under the leading NNPP party in last week’s Presidential and National House of Assembly elections in Kano.

In the history of Kano state politics, only the NNPP Presidential candidate Rabi’u Musa Kwankwaso anointed his Deputy Dr. Abdullahi Umar Ganduje to succeed him during the 2015 general elections, which they fell apart after Ganduje became Governor.

Many Kano State aresidents are hoping that the elected Governor will focus his attention toward his campaign promises, and use the available resources (human and material) toward making Kano great again.

Umar Idris Shuaibu is a Kano State resident & Public Affairs Analyst who can be reach at [email protected] or 08066616097.