AbdulRahman AbdulRazaq | |
|---|---|
.jpg) | |
| Governor of Kwara State | |
| Assumed office 29 May 2019 | |
| Deputy | Kayode Alabi |
| Preceded by | Abdulfatah Ahmed |
| Personal details | |
| Born | (1960-02-05)5 February 1960 (age 66) |
| Party | All Progressives Congress (APC) |
| Spouse | Olufolake Davies |
| Occupation | Politician |
| Website | Campaign website |
AbdulRahman AbdulRazaq (listenⓘ; born 5 February 1960) is aNigerian politician who has served as governor ofKwara State since 2019.[1][2]
He was previously the CEO of First Fuels Limited.[3] He contested unsuccessfully the governorship ofKwara State in 2003, 2007 and 2011 respectively under theCongress for Progressive Change political party and was successively defeated byBukola Saraki in 2003 and 2007, and byAbdulfatah Ahmed in 2011.[4] However, in 2019, he contested again under the ruling political party in Nigeria, theAll Progressives Congress, and emerged as the governor ofKwara State, after he won the 2019 governorship election in the state.[5] In 2021, he introduced KwaraLEARN in basiceducation to empower teachers.[6] By May 2023, during the first anniversary of KwaraLEARN's launch, he declared the programme one of his best policies ever.[7] On 1 August 2023, he and other six governors were in the entourage of presidentBola Ahmed Tinubu toRepublic of Benin for the country's 63rd independence celebration.
He was born inKano State.[4] AbdulRahman is the son of AlhajiAbdulganiyu Abdulrasaq SAN, the first northern lawyer in Nigeria.[8]
He attended Capital School,Kaduna between 1966 and 1968; Bishop Smith Memorial SchoolIlorin between 1970 and 1971; and Government College Kaduna where he is said to have earned hisWest African Senior School Certificate Examination in 1976 (WASSCE).[4][9]
He entered politics in 1999 when Nigeria returned to democracy. In 2011, he unsuccessfully contested the governorship election in Kwara State on the platform of Congress for Progressive Change (CPC)[10] and again contested unsuccessfully the Kwara Central Senatorial District on the platform ofPeoples Democratic Party (PDP) in both 2011 and 2015.[11] He won the gubernatorial primary election of theAll Progressives Congress forKwara State in October 2018.[12][10]
He was elected as governor ofKwara State at the 2019 governorship election held on 9 March 2019 and sworn in on 29 May 2019.[13]On 19 March 2023, Abdulrahman Abdulrazaq was declared winner and reelected as the governor ofKwara State defeating his closest rival Yaman Abdullahi of thePeople Democratic Party PDP having scored majority votes in the election.[14]
On 24 May 2023, he emerged as the new Chairman of theNigeria Governors' Forum at a closed-door meeting of the Governors which was held inAbuja succeeding the former governor ofSokoto State,Aminu Tambuwal, who became the Forum's chairman in 2022,[15] with the governor ofOyo State,Seyi Makinde as the deputy chairman.[16]
He is married to Prof.Olufolake Abdulrazaq (born 2 August 1967), and the couple has three sons.[17]