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Mohammed Rabiu Musa Kwankwaso

FNIQS

Rabiu Kwankwaso 01
Date of Birth:
1956-10-21
Place of Birth:
Kano

Mohammed Rabiu Musa Kwankwaso, FNSE FNIQS was born October 21, 1956 in Kano. He is a Nigerian politician who served as governor of Kano state from 1999 to 2003 and from 2011 to 2015. After he lost his re-election in 2003, 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 President Olusegun Obasanjo.

He was later elected to the Senate in 2015, serving one term under the platform of the All Progressives Congress (APC) representing Kano Central Senatorial District.

He attended Kwankwaso Primary School, Gwarzo Boarding Senior Primary School, Wudi Craft School and Kano Technical College before proceeding to Kaduna Polytechnic where he did both his National Diploma, and Higher National Diploma. Kwankwaso was an active student leader during his school days and was an elected official of the Kano State Students Association.

He also attended postgraduate studies in the United Kingdom from 1982 to 1983 at the Middlesex Polytechnic; and Loughborough University of Technology where he received a master's degree in civil engineering in 1985. He also earned a PhD in civil engineering at Sharda University India, in 2022.

In 2014, Kwankwaso announced his intention to run for the position of President of Nigeria under the newly established opposition party, the APC party. He participated in the party's primary election in Lagos, where he came in second place after Gen. Muhammadu Buhari, who went on to win the 2015 general election and become the President of Nigeria.

Following a disagreement with his former Deputy Governor, Abdullahi Ganduje, Kwankwaso left the APC and joined the PDP. In 2018, he contested in the PDP presidential primary election held in Port Harcourt and came in fourth place, while former Vice President of Nigeria, Atiku Abubakar, emerged as the winner. However, Atiku later lost in the 2019 general election.

In 2022, Kwankwaso abandoned the PDP and joined the New Nigeria Peoples Party (NNPP). He contested and won the presidential primary held in Abuja later that year. During the 2023 Nigeria presidential election, Kwankwaso and his running mate, Bishop Isaac Idahosa, secured fourth place with nearly 1.5 million votes.

Prior to the general election, Kwankwaso was one of the candidates invited to the Royal Institute of International Affairs, Chatham House, UK, to discuss his vision for Nigeria.

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