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Alhaji Abdullahi Adamu, the Sarkin Yakin Keffi, was the first Executive Governor of Nasarawa State.

He was born on July 6, 1945 at Keffi and he started his education at the age of 7 at Abdu Zanga Primary School, Keffi and completed at the Laminga Senior Primary School in 1959.

His Post-Primary education started at the now Government Secondary School, Makurdi from 1960-1962, from where he proceeded to Government Technical College, Bukuru from 1963 – 1965.

Because of his strong desire for Western education, and blessed with a sharp calculating mind, he proceeded to the Kaduna Polytechnic where he read and obtained a National Diploma in Building and Civil Engineering and graduated in 1968.

He had a short employment after the diploma course with the National Electric Power Authority (NEPA) as a maintenance supervisor.

Later he left for a Higher National Diploma at Kaduna Polytechnic and completed in 1970. After the course, he took up appointment with the Northern Nigeria Development Corporation (NNDC) Kaduna.

Thereafter, he moved to the private sector where he became a Consultant Area Manager with AEK, a firm of consultants. In 1975, he was appointed the Executive Secretary of the Benue-Plateau Construction Company (BEPCO) with headquarters in Jos.

His stint with Politics began in 1977 when he was elected into the Constituent Assembly, a body that drafted the country’s Second Republic Constitution of 1979. Thereafter, he became a pioneer member of the National Movement which later metamorphosed into the National Party of Nigeria (NPN).

Alhaji Abdullahi Adamu became the Secretary of NPN and later Chairman of the party in Plateau State and also a member of the National Executive Committee of the the NPN.

In 1980, as a result of his enormous contribution to the society, he was honoured with the prestigious title of SARKIN YAKIN KEFFI by His Royal Highness, the Emir of Keffi, Alhaji Chindo Yamusa II.

At the demise of the second republic in 1983, he went back into the academics and enrolled in the pioneer class of the part-time Law degree of the University of Jos. By 1992, he added yet another feather to his academic career with a Law Degree from the University of Jos. He was enrolled into the Nigeria Law School, Lagos and was called to the bar in 1993 as a Solicitor and Advocate of the Supreme Court of Nigeria.

The new APC National Chairman was appointed a member of the National Constitutional Conference convened by the General Sani Abacha Administration for the drafting of a constitution for a new democratic government.

In March 1995, he was appointed a Minister of State in the Ministry of Works and Housing of the Federal Republic of Nigeria where he served up to November 17, 1997.

During his tenure, he actively participated in the UN-sponsored programme for urban, housing and environmental development known as “Habitat II”. He led the Nigerian delegation to the conference in Istanbul, Turkey, in June/July 1996.

At the lifting of the ban on politics he became a member of the United Nigeria Congress Party (UNCP) and was one of its leading gubernatorial contenders in Nasarawa State. His ambition was however not realised as the party, alongside others, was dissolved at the death of General Sani Abacha.

At the onset of the new democratic political dispensation in 1998, Alhaji Abdullahi Adamu became a founding member of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and contested for the position of the Executive Governor of Nasarawa State on its platform.

He won the elections conducted on 9th January, 1999. He was subsequently sworn in as the Executive Governor of Nasarawa State on May 29, 1999.

At the formation of the Nigeria Governors’ Forum in 1999, his colleagues unanimously elected the APC National Chairman as the pioneer Chairman and served from 1999 to 2004.

After the end of his two-term governorship, Adamu became Secretary, Board of Trustees (BOT) of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP). In November 2009, a group of prominent PDP members stated that they would support his candidacy in the 2011 elections for the Nasarawa West Senate constituency.

However, in Feb 2010, Abdullahi Adamu was arrested by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) for allegedly embezzling $100 million of government money meant for public projects.

That was before Adamu was the PDP candidate for the Nasarawa West Senatorial seat in the April 2011 elections.

In an interview in February 2011, he dismissed the EFCC case, saying it was based on “mere allegations”, and said it would not affect his candidature.

In the event, he was elected with 121,414 votes, while his closest rival, retired General Ahmed Abdullahi Aboki of the Congress for Progressive Change (CPC), polled 93,050 votes.

The former Governor Abdullahi Adamu had assumed leadership of Nasarawa State with a rich background in public and private service.

He was Chairman, Board of Directors, Benue Cement Company, Gboko and was also a member of the Board of Directors of the Nigerian Television Authority. He has also been honoured with the keys to the cities of Hamburg, Germany; Harlem, New York, Soweto, South Africa and the plaque of Los Angeles, USA.

Alhaji Abdullahi Adamu is a lover of sports, especially football, baseball, cricket, hockey and athletics.

A well-rounded man, Alhaji Abdullahi Adamu, Lawyer, Engineer, Technocrat and a consummate politician is married and has five children.

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