If there is any member of the ruling All Progressive Congress (APC) who decamped from the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and rose to be one of the powerful members of APC, it is Abdullahi Adamu, a two-term governor of Nasarawa State.
His sojourn to Nigeria’s political landscape did not start in 1998 when he was a founding member of PDP, but as far back as the 1970s.
Who is Abdullahi Adamu?
Born on July 23, 1946, in Keffi, Abdullahi Adamu was a foundation member of PDP and was the party’s governorship candidate in Nasarawa state during the 1999 elections.
He defeated his rivals was sworn in on May 29, 1999, as the first executive governor of Nasarawa State. The state was among the six states that were created by the military regime of Gen Sani Abacha on October 1, 1996.
In the 2003 general elections, Adamu contested again under the PDP and was re-elected for a second term.
Academic Qualifications
From 1960 to 1962, he attended the Government Secondary School, Makurdi before proceeding to the Government Technical College, Bukuru, where he completed his secondary school education.
At 22-year-old, Abdullahi Adamu obtained an Ordinary National Diploma (OND) at the Kaduna Polytechnic (KadPoly).
At 25, he obtained Higher National Diploma (HND) in Building and Civil Engineering at KadPoly. In the same year, he graduated from Kadpoly.
According to his autobiography, Alhaji Adamu went back to class to study law after the end of the second that was truncated by Major-Gen Muhammadu Buhari at the time.
In 1987, he was one of the pioneer students of the part-time Law degree of the University of Jos. And by 1992, he graduated with an LLB (Hons) and therefore enroll on the Nigeria Law School, Lagos, to obtain BL and was called to the Nigerian bar in December 1993 as a Solicitor and Advocate of the Supreme Court of Nigeria.
Work Experience
Adamu was appointed the Executive Secretary of the Benue-Plateau Construction Company by the two state governments in 1971.
He would later join the Northern Nigeria Development Corporation (NNDC) Kaduna State. By 1973, he had moved to AEK consultancy firm as Project Manager for the construction of Durbar Hotel and Murtala Mohammed Square, Kaduna.
And by 30-year-old, he rose to the position of Chairman of the Benue Cement Company, Gboko.
Political Journey
Abdullahi Adamu’s sojourn into politics started as an undergraduate at the prestigious Kaduna Polytechnic where he contested and won the election as the President of the Student Union Government (SUG) in the 1967/68 academic session.
That’s not all, in the same period, he was elected as the National Vice-President of the National Association of Nigerian Students after the merger of the two National Student bodies: National Union of Nigerian Students (NUNS) and National Association of Technological Students (NATS) in 1968.
His experience as a campus politician had prepared him for the real political battle ahead of him. No wonder he was elected to the Constituent Assembly in 1977.
The Constituent Assembly was inaugurated by the military regime of Gen. Olusegun Obasanjo to draft the 1979 constitution in preparation to initiate a second republic.
Between 1979 till December 1983, he was an active member of the ruling National Party of Nigeria (NPN). He rose to become the first Secretary-General of the NPN in Plateau State in December 1978.
A few months after the assumption of office as the secretary of the party, he became the chairman of the NPN in the Plateau, the position he held between 1982 till 1983, when Muhammadu Buhari and his boys overthrew the civilian government of Alhaji Shehu Shagari.
In 1994, he was appointed to the National Constitutional Conference. The conference was a brainchild of the late despot Sani Abacha.
In March 1995, the military regime of Abacha appointed him a minister of state for Works and Housing, the position he held till November 1997.
He was a member of the United Nigeria Congress Party (UNCP) during the Abacha regime, but Abacha couldn’t achieve his aim as he (Abacha) died in 1998.
The military regime of Abdulsalami Abubakar that succeeded the Abacha immediately launched a plan to return to a democratic rule.
Three major political parties were formed: APP, AD and PDP. Abdullahi Adamu was the a founding member of PDP.
After his two-term tenure as Nasarawa State governor in 2007, he became the secretary Board of Trustees of PDP.
Defection to APC
In 2011, he contested for Nasarawa West Senatorial District and won the election. Before the 2015 general elections, the internal crisis within PDP led to the formation of a New PDP by some aggrieved PDP candidates for which he was a member.
Along with Bukola Saraki (who has now gone back to PDP) dumped PDP and joined APC. He worked with APC to unseat the incumbent at the time (Goodluck Jonathan).
Abdullahi Adamu’s Emergence as APC Chairman
Following the suspension of Adams Oshiomhole in November 2019 by Ward 10 of Etsako West Local Government Area of Edo State and his sacking by courts, the ruling APC had been involved in one crisis to the other.
The situation led to the inauguration of the Caretaker/Extraordinary Convention Planning Committee of the party by President Muhammadu Buhari.
Mai Mala Buni who was appointed by Buhari as the caretaker chairman had been shifting the convention of the party that could have led to the emergence of a new APC chairman.
However, after several postponements, the party fixed Saturday, March 26, 2022, for its convention in Abuja.
But Buhari disclosed to APC chairmanship aspirants (Ali Modu Sherriff, Clement Ebri, Abdulaziz Yari, Senator Kashim Shettima, Alhaji Salihu Mustapha, Senator Tanko Al-Makura) that Senator Abdullahi Adamu was his preferred candidate for the APC chairman.
He ordered the caretaker committee to refund the aspirants who had earlier bought expression of interest for NGN20,000,000 each.
To confirm the agreement, the incumbent Governor of Nasarawa State, Abdullahi Sule, during an interview on Channels’ Politics Today confirmed that the All Progressives Congress chose Abdullahi Adamu as their consensus candidate for the position of party Chairman.
“Consensus is one of the requirements. it is provided in our Constitution and it is not against the Electoral Act”.
Channels Television
That’s how Abdullahi Adamu emerged as the APC chairman. In fact, which circulated on social media shows a moment where Al-Makura (an aspirant for the APC chair) was dancing alongside Senator Adamu to celebrate his unopposed emergence as APC Chairman.
Resignation as APC Chairman:
On July 17, 2023, Abdullahi Adamu reportedly resigned as APC chairman in controversial circumstances. He didn’t support President Bola Tinubu during the party’s primaries.
Awards:
Senator Abdullahi Adamu has won several awards across Nigeria, including the Award of Excellence in Governance by the National Union of Benue State Students, Aminu Kano International Award for Exemplary Leadership, and Ahmadu Bello University National Alumni Association Distinguished Merit Award among others.
From PDP BoT secretary to the new APC chairman in Nigeria, that’s the political biography of the Nasarawa Senator Abdullahi Adamu.
Sources:
- Featured Image by abdullahiadamu.net
- Channels Television (March 25, 2022). “Abdullahi Adamu Is Our Consensus Candidate For APC Chairman – Gov Sule”. Channelstv.com. Retrieved March 26, 2022
- Abdullahiadamu. “Senator Abdullahi Adamu: The Man, The Bridge”. Abdullahiadamu.net. Retrieved March 26, 2022