Abdullahi Ganduje
- Name: Abdullahi Umar Ganduje
- Birthdate: 25 December 1949
- Birthplace: Ganduje village, Kano
- Occupation: Politician
Abdullahi Umar Ganduje OFR (born 25 December 1949) is a Nigerian politician who is currently serving as the national chairman of Nigeria's ruling party, the All Progressives Congress (APC). He was the governor of Kano state from 2015 to 2023, after previously serving as Rabiu Kwankwaso‘s deputy governor twice, between 1999 to 2003 and 2011 to 2015.
Ganduje was born in Ganduje village of Dawakin Tofa Local Government Area of Kano state in 1949.
Education
He started his early education in Qur’anic and Islamiyya school at his village, Ganduje, where he was trained in Islamic knowledge. He later moved to the headquarters of his local government, where he attended Dawakin Tofa Primary School from 1956 to 1963. Ganduje attended the prestigious Government College, Birnin Kudu, from 1964 to 1968.
He attended Advanced Teachers’ College, Kan,o between 1969 and 1972. He then attended Ahmadu Bello University, located in Zaria, Kaduna State, where he graduated with a Bachelor's in Science Education in 1975. In 1979, he obtained a master’s degree in applied educational psychology from Bayero University Kano and later returned to Ahmadu Bello University from 1984 to 1985 for a Master of Public Administration degree. He received his doctorate in Public Administration from the University of Ibadan in 1993.
Political career
The current APC national chairman joined the National Party of Nigeria (NPN) during the Second Nigerian Republic and served as Kano State Assistant Secretary from 1979 to 1980. He contested the House of Representatives election in 1979 under the NPN but lost the election. Between 1984 and 1994, he held various government positions in the Federal Capital Development Authority, and in 1994, he became the Kano State Commissioner of the Ministry of Works, Housing, and Transport.
In 1998, he joined the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and aspired to be the party’s gubernatorial candidate, in the primaries supervised by Tony Momoh, Abdullahi Aliyu Sumaila and Senator Bala Tafidan Yauri amongst others; he lost to Rabiu Musa Kwankwaso.
Ganduje was later picked as the deputy to Governor Rabiu Kwankwaso between 1999 and 2003. In addition to the deputy governorship, he was also appointed as the Commissioner for Local Government. From 2003 to 2007, he served as the Special Adviser (Political) to the Minister of Defence. Ganduje also served as executive secretary of the Lake Chad Basin Commission in N'Djamena. In 2014, he was selected as the All Progressives Congress (APC) consensus candidate for the Governor of Kano State.
He went on to defeat the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) candidate, Malam Salihu Takai, with 1,546,434 votes against Takai’s 509,726 votes in the 2015 governorship election. On 29 May 2015, he was inaugurated as the Governor of Kano State, replacing his political mentor Rabiu Kwankwaso. During his first term, Ganduje fell out with Kwankwaso, whom he accused of godfatherism. His tenure was also characterised by a series of clashes with Emir Muhammadu Sanusi II, whom he investigated for financial recklessness. In 2019, he won re-election for a second term, defeating Kwankwaso’s son-in-law Abba Kabir Yusuf in a controversial election marred by electoral malpractices.
