Kaduna State is a state in the northwest geopolitical zone of Nigeria. The state capital is its namesake, the city of Kaduna, which was the 8th largest city in the country as of 2006. Created in 1967 as North-Central State, which also encompassed the modern Katsina State, Kaduna State achieved its current borders in 1987. Kaduna State is the fourth largest and third most populous state in the country, Kaduna State is nicknamed the Centre of Learning, owing to the presence of numerous educational institutions of importance within the state such as Ahmadu Bello University.
Nasir Ahmad El-Rufai is a Nigerian politician who served as governor of Kaduna State from 2015 to 2023. He served as minister of the Federal Capital Territory from 2003 to 2007. El-Rufai also served as director of the Bureau of Public Enterprises. He is a co-founding member of the ruling party All Progressives Congress.
The Kaduna Mafia is a loose group of Nigerian businessmen, civil servants, intellectuals and military officers from Northern Nigeria, who resided or conducted their activities in Kaduna, the former capital of the region towards the end of the First Republic.
Barewa College is a college in Zaria, Kaduna State, northern Nigeria. Founded in 1921 by British Governor General Hugh Clifford, it was originally known as Katsina College. It switched its name to Kaduna College in 1938 and to Government College, Zaria in 1949 before settling on Barewa College. It is one of the largest boarding schools in Northern Nigeria and was the most-celebrated post-primary schools there up to the early 1960s. The school is known for the large number of elites from the region who attended and counts among its alumni include Tafawa Balewa who was Prime Minister of Nigeria from 1960 to 1966, four heads of state of Nigeria. The school is located along Gaskiya road in the Tukur -Tukur area of Zaria.
Mukhtar Ramalan Yero is a Nigerian politician who served as the governor of Kaduna State from 2012 to 2015, following the death of Patrick Yakowa in a helicopter crash. He previously served as deputy governor from 2010 to 2012 and as Kaduna State Commissioner of Finance from 2007 to May 2010 when Yakowa named him deputy governor after he succeeded Namadi Sambo who became the vice president of Nigeria.
Aminu Abdullahi Shagali is a Nigerian politician, academic and a public servant. He is the current commissioner of Ministry of Housing and Urban Developments. He served as the special adviser on political matter to Gov. Nasir El-Rufai and the same capacity in APC Gubernatorial campaign for the 2023 general elections.Moreover, he served as the speaker of the 5th Kaduna Assembly.
Samaila Suleiman is a Nigerian politician who served as a member of the House of Representatives of Nigeria representing Kaduna North Federal Constituency of Kaduna State from 2015 to 2023. He was elected under the All Progressives Congress platform in March 2015. In March 2022, he resigned from the ruling APC to the Peoples Democratic Party after an interest of Governor Nasir El-Rufai's son, Bello, on his seat in the green chamber.
Hadiza Isma El-Rufai is a Nigerian writer (novelist), and wife to the former governor of Kaduna State, Mallam Nasir El-Rufai. She was the founder of Yasmin El-rufai Foundation (YELF), a non-profit literary organization.
Muhammad Sani Abdullahi popularly known as Dattijo is a Deputy Governor of Economic Policy at the Central Bank of Nigeria. President Bola Ahmed Tinubu appointed Muhammad as Deputy Governor on 15 September 2023. Dattijo served as a policy adviser at the Executive Office of United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki Moon in New York. Dattijo formed the core team that developed the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Dattijo resigned from this appointment to serve the Nigerian government as the Commissioner for Budget and Planning in Kaduna State. He published a book titled "Disruption Rethinking Governance to work for the Poor." On 2 July 2023.
Hadiza Sabuwa Balarabe into Alhaji Abubakar Mohammed family is a Nigerian politician and medical doctor who has served as the deputy governor of Kaduna State since 2019. She is the first female deputy governor of the state and was elected during the 2019 Nigerian gubernatorial elections held in March, under the platform of the ruling All Progressives Congress and re-elected in 2023.
Goddy Jedy Agba OFR, born Godwin, 20 August 1958, is a Nigerian bureaucrat, politician, farmer, author and former Group general manager, Crude Oil Marketing Division, Nigerian National Petroleum Company (NNPC). As of July 2019, he was nominated as a minister of the federal republic of Nigeria from Cross River by the government of President Muhammadu Buhari. In 1983, he had his first Degree in International Studies from Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria. He obtained his master's degree in International Law and Diplomacy from the University of Lagos, Akoka in 1989. Goddy joined Federal Civil Service in 1984 and retired at NNPC in 2014 to join the Nigerian politics.
Samuel Aruwan is a Nigerian journalist, and pioneer Commissioner for Kaduna State Ministry of Internal Security and Home Affairs.
Ahmed Nuhu Bamalli CFR is a Nigerian lawyer, banker and diplomat. He is the former Nigerian ambassador to Thailand with concurrent accreditation to Myanmar, and the current 19th Fulani Emir of Zazzau, a Nigerian traditional state with headquarters in Zaria, Kaduna State, Nigeria. He is the first Emir from the Mallawa ruling house to be enthroned in a century after the dethronement of his grandfather, Emir Alu Dan Sidi in 1920.
The 2019 Kaduna State gubernatorial election occurred on March 9, 2019. APC candidate Nasir Ahmad el-Rufai defeated main opposition party PDP's candidate, Isah Ashiru, to emerge winner of the contest. APC was said to have won 14 LGAs, PDP nine.
The 1979 Kaduna State gubernatorial election occurred on July 28, 1979. PRP's Abdulkadir Balarabe Musa won election for a first term to become Kaduna State's first executive governor leading by 45.14%, defeating NPN's Lawal Kaita who got 44.42% and the GNPP candidate with 10.44%, in the contest.
The 2023 Kaduna State gubernatorial election will take place on 18 March 2023, to elect the Governor of Kaduna State, concurrent with elections to the Kaduna State House of Assembly as well as twenty-seven other gubernatorial elections and elections to all other state houses of assembly. The election—which was postponed from its original 11 March date—will be held three weeks after the presidential election and National Assembly elections. Incumbent APC Governor Nasir Ahmad el-Rufai is term-limited and cannot seek re-election to a third term.
Ahmadu Bello University is a federal government research university located in Zaria, Kaduna State, Nigeria, opened in 1962 as the University of Northern Nigeria.
The 2023 Nigerian Senate elections in Kaduna State will be held on 25 February 2023, to elect the 3 federal Senators from Kaduna State, one from each of the state's three senatorial districts. The elections will coincide with the 2023 presidential election, as well as other elections to the Senate and elections to the House of Representatives; with state elections being held two weeks later. Primaries were held between 4 April and 9 June 2022.
Nura Abba Rimi is a Nigerian diplomat who currently serves as the Permanent Secretary, Federal Ministry of Industry, Trade and Investment. He was Ambassador of the Federal Republic of Nigeria to the Arab Republic of Egypt, with concurrent accreditation to the State of Palestine and the State of Eritrea.
