Rabi’u Musa Kwankwaso, FNSE, FNIQS, is a Nigerian politician who served as Governor of Kano State from 1999 to 2003 and again from 2011 to 2015. He was appointed the first Minister of Defence of the Fourth Republic with no prior military background from 2003 to 2007, under the administration of former President Olusegun Obasanjo after he lost his re-election in 2003. He was later elected to the Senate in 2015, representing the Kano Central Senatorial District under the All Progressives Congress (APC) platform.
Biography
Rabiu Musa Kwankwaso was born on October 21, 1956, to a Sunni Muslim Fulani family in Kwankwaso, a village near Madobi. His father was the village chief of Kwankwaso, with the title of Sarkin Fulani, Dagacin Kwankwaso; by the Kano Emir. He was raised to the District Head of Madobi, with the title of Majidadin Kano, Hakimin Madobi by the Kano Emirate Council.
Before attending Kaduna Polytechnic, he attended Kwankwaso Primary School, Gwarzo Boarding Senior Primary School, Wudil Craft School, and Kano Technical College. During his academic years, Kwankwaso was an active student leader and an elected official of the Kano State Students Association.
He got a postgraduate degree in engineering at Middlesex Polytechnic in the United Kingdom from 1982 to 1983 and at the Loughborough University of Technology in 1985, where he got a master’s degree in water engineering. In 2022, he will complete his PhD in water engineering at Sharda University in India.
ALSO READ: 7 things to know about Atiku’s running mate, Ifeanyi Okowa
Career
In 1975, Kwankwaso joined the Kano State Water Resources and Engineering Construction Agency. He worked there for 17 years in various capacities, eventually rising to chief water engineer.
Kwankwaso entered politics in 1992 as a member of the Social Democratic Party (SDP). His old employers, Senator Magaji Abdullahi, Babagana Kingibe, Atiku Abubakar, Bola Tinubu, Tony Anenih, Chuba Okadigbo, Abdullahi Aliyu Sumaila, Abubakar Koko, and Lamidi Adedibu were all members of the People’s Front group of the SDP, which was led by General Shehu Yar’adua.
Kwankwaso was elected to the House of Representatives in 1992, representing the Madobi Federal Constituency. His subsequent election as the House’s deputy speaker thrust him into the national spotlight. Kwankwaso was elected as a delegate from Kano to the 1995 Constitutional Conference as a member of Yar’adua’s People’s Democratic Movement. He then joined General Sani Abacha’s political transition program, the Democratic Party of Nigeria (DPN).
In 1998, Kwankwaso joined the People’s Democratic Movement in Kano, led by Mallam Musa Gwadabe, Senator Hamisu Musa, and Alhaji Abdullahi Aliyu Sumaila. He ran in the PDP primaries with Abdullahi Umar Ganduje, Mukthari Zimit, and Alhaji Kabiru Rabiu in 1999. The Santsi/PSP supported Abdullahi Umar Ganduje’s candidacy, but they were defeated by Kwankwaso in the primaries.
From 2003 to 2007, Kwankwaso served in President Olusegun Obasanjo’s second cabinet as Minister of Defense, replacing Theophilus Danjuma.
From May 2015 until May 2019, Kwankwaso served in the Senate of Nigeria, representing Kano Central Senatorial District.
Governorship
Kwankwaso was elected Governor of Kano State for the first time on May 29, 1999, and served until May 29, 2003. His first term as Governor of Kano State was tumultuous, with no thanks to the opposition of other parties to his autocratic government and his attempt to support Yoruba President Olusegun Obasanjo. In 2003, he was defeated in his re-election bid by Malam Ibrahim Shekarau.
Kwankwaso resigned his ministerial position in 2007 to run for Governor of Kano State, but he was defeated because a Government White Paper had indicted him. He was eventually replaced as the party’s governorship candidate by Alhaji Ahmed Garba Bichi. After losing his party’s bid to run in the 2007 elections, he was appointed by President Olusegun Obasanjo as Special Envoy to Somalia and Darfur, and later by President Umaru Yar’Adua as a Board Member of the Niger Delta Development Commission, a position he resigned from January 2010.
From May 29, 2011, to May 29, 2015, Kwankwaso was re-elected as Governor of Kano State for a second term. During this time, he set out to rejig the political structure of Kwankwasiyya: building roads, hospitals, and schools and sending residents to study abroad. Kwankwaso was one of seven serving governors that formed the G-7 breakaway of the Peoples Democratic Party in August 2013. Kwankwaso, along with five other members of the G-7, defected to the new opposition group, the All Progressives Congress (APC) in November 2013.
ALSO READ: 5 reasons Atiku Abubakar won PDP primaries
Achievements
Kwankwaso’s governorship was marked by a number of important accomplishments. He built the Kano Institution of Science and Technology in Wudil during his first term as governor (1999–2003), which was Kano’s first and only state university at the time. Kwankwaso founded the North West University, Kano, the second state university in Kano, during his second term (2011 to 2015). He also founded 26 academic and manpower development training institutes, which trained and empowered over 360,000 young men and women. He is Nigeria’s first governor to provide free school meals and uniforms to primary school students. When he left office in 2015, the number of students enrolled in schools had risen from 1 million in 2011 to over 3 million.
His dedication to education resulted in the implementation of free education at all levels of government, as well as suitable teaching and learning resources. In collaboration with the Government of the Niger Republic, he established 230 secondary schools in Damagaran and Niamey, including 47 technical colleges, 44 Islamic schools, a Chinese college, a French college, and the first boarding girls’ and boys’ colleges. He has given over 2,600 postgraduate and undergraduate overseas scholarships in 14 countries throughout his four years as governor. This is in addition to the Nigerian government’s local private university scholarship.
Three flyover bridges were built, 5 km dual-carriage lit roads were also built in each of Kano’s 44 local government areas, and two underpass bridges were built for the first time in Northern Nigeria’s history.
During both his first and second terms in office, Kwankwaso built numerous residences and estates. Kwankwasiyya, Amana, and Bandirawo, three contemporary cities, were developed with approximately 3000 dwelling units of varied capacities offered up for sale to the general public. About 1500 dwellings have been built and given away for free to rural disadvantaged communities and flood victims.
Governor Kwankwaso’s most remarkable achievement is his humanitarian effort, which was designed to help the weak, infirm, and underprivileged, also known as the dregs of society. After driving drug barons out of business, he pioneered legislation prohibiting young and old people from begging on the street, emphasizing human dignity. He also established a rehabilitation program for drug addicts.
ALSO READ: 5 Reasons Bola Tinubu won the APC presidential primary
Net worth
Kwankwaso is a Nigerian politician; his net worth is estimated at N8.3 billion ($20m).
Family
He married Salamatu Rabiu Musa in 2000. A’isha, Al-Amin, and Mustapha Kwankwaso are his children.
Kwankwaso 2023
Kwankwaso has declared his intentions to run for the presidency in the 2023 elections. He defected from the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) to the New Nigeria Peoples Party (NNPP). He is also the presidential candidate for the party.
Kwankwaso’s new party
Kwankwaso founded the National Movement on February 22, 2022, as a political movement in opposition to the two major political parties, the All Progressives Congress and the Peoples Democratic Party. On March 30, 2022, he co-opted the New Nigeria Peoples Party as the movement’s political branch and became the party’s national head.
Conclusion
Kwankwaso, following his resignation as governor, established the Kwankwasiyya Development Foundation (KDF), a non-profit organisation dedicated to assisting the people of Kano and Nigeria.
Kwankwaso provided ongoing financial aid to numerous young people through the foundation, allowing them to finish their education. After successfully finishing their degrees, the foundation’s first class of 370 foreign scholarship recipients returned to Nigeria in 2021. Many of the scholars were able to get jobs with national and international companies like Dangote and BUA after completing their studies, thanks to the Kwankwasiyya Development Foundation.
When asked the reason for starting the foundation, he simply stated that he wanted to promote literacy and drive poverty from Kano and the country at large.
ALSO READ: How the Electoral Act will aid successful conduct of 2023 elections
