Kano State governor-elect, Engr. Abba Kabir Yusuf was born on 5 January 1963 in Gaya Local Government Area of Kano State.
He started his Islamic education at an early age under the guidance of his late grandfather, Danmakwayon Kano, Alhaji Yusuf Bashari who was the then-District Head of Gaya local government area of Kano State.
He 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.
Abba Kabiru Yusuf gained admission into the Federal Polytechnic, Mubi Adamawa State, where he bagged his National Diploma in Civil Engineering in 1985 and later obtained a Higher National Diploma (HND) in Civil Engineering with a specialization in Water Resources/Environmental Engineering in 1989 at Kaduna Polytechnic.
He served in the mandatory one-year National Youth Service Corps at Kaduna Environmental Protection Agency (KEPA) from 1989 to 1990.
He went to Bayero University, Kano, where he obtained a postgraduate diploma and a master’s degree in business administration.
He was employed by Kano State Water Resources Engineering and Construction Agency (WRECA), where he held various positions.
In 1999, Abba Kabir Yusuf was appointed as personal assistant to Rabiu Kwankwaso while he was the governor of Kano State; he was retained as a personal assistant when Kwankwaso became a minister of defense in the Olusegun Obasanjo’s administration from 2003 to 2007.
In 2009, Engr. Abba Kabir Yusuf was appointed by late President Umaru Musa Yaradua as the chairman of Governing Board of the National Institute for Educational Planning and Administration (NIEPA), Ondo State where he served between 2009 and 2011.
In 2011, Governor-elect served in Kwankwaso’s administration as private secretary to the governor and was later appointed commissioner for works, housing, and transport.
In 2018, he was anointed by his boss Rabiu Kwankwaso to challenge the outgoing Governor Abdullahi Umar Ganduje under the platform of the Peoples Democratic Party in the 2019 gubernatorial election.
In 2022, Abba Kabir Yusuf moved from the Peoples Democratic Party to the New Nigeria Peoples Party and was re-anointed by Kwankwaso to challenge Nasir Yusuf Gawuna in the 2023 elections.
Abba was declared winner of the Kano state gubernatorial election by the Independent National Electoral Commission on 20th March 2023 and was issued a certificate of return on 29th March 2023.
In several speeches during his gubernatorial campaign, Abba Kabir Yusuf made promises to take the state to the highest level, particularly in the educational sector, health, agriculture, empowerment, and economics.
The governor–elect who is 60 years old in 2023 is a son-in-law to the NNPP presidential candidate Rabi’u Musa Kwankwaso.
(Radio Kano)
