Ahmed Lawan’s Biography, Networth, family life, achievements, and political ambitions
Nigerian politician and professor Ahmad Ibrahim Lawan (GCON) has presided over the Senate of Nigeria since 2019. As a member of the All Progressives Congress, he sits in the Senate as the senator for Yobe North. As a member of the All Nigeria Peoples Party and a university instructor from Gashua, Lawan was first elected to the House of Representatives in 1999 to represent the Bade/Jakusko Constituency. Lawan won reelection in 2003 and then ran successfully for senator for Yobe North in 2007. After being re-elected in 2011, 2015, and 2019 (as a member of the All Progressive Congress, which replaced the ANPP), Lawan defeated Senator Mohammed Ali Ndume with 79 votes to become the next Senate President upon the start of the 9th Nigerian National Legislature in 2019. He had previously made a remarkable unsuccessful effort for Senate President in 2015. This was his second try.
Biography
Gashua, then in the north of British Nigeria, is where Lawan was born on January 12, 1959. Prior to getting a bachelor’s degree in geography from the University of Maiduguri in 1984, he completed primary education at Sabon Gari Primary School in Gashua in 1974 and secondary school at Government Secondary School in Gashua in 1979. After graduating from college, Lawan served his one-year term of national duty in Benue State before earning his master’s in remote sensing from the Ahmadu Bello University in 1990 and his doctorate in remote sensing/GIS from Cranfield University in 1996.
Ahmed Lawan Early Career
Between 1985 and 1986, Lawan served as an education officer in the Yobe State Civil Service’s state ministry of education. From 1987 to 1997, he lectured at the University of Maiduguri, his alma mater.
Ahmed Lawan Political Career
Lawan led the House Committees on Agriculture and Education at various points after being elected in 1999 to the House of Representatives for the Bade/Jakusko district. Lawan won a 2007 election for the Senate. He was a participant in the Joint Committee on Constitution Revision of the National Assembly in 2008. The Desertification Control Commission Bill was proposed and sponsored by Lawan in 2009 while he served as the head of the Senate Committee on Public Accounts. Senator Lawan came out against the proposed Kafin Zaki Dam in August 2009. He said that the Jama’are River was now the Yobe River’s primary supply of water because the Tiga Dam and Challawa Gorge Dam had already significantly decreased water flow. Extreme poverty, greater desert encroachment, migration, and disputes between arable farmers and herdsmen were all brought on by the dams. Under the ANPP platform, Lawan ran for re-election in the Yobe North Senatorial District on April 9, 2011. With 92,799 votes, he defeated PDP candidate Hassan Kafayos Hussaini, who received 76,960 votes. Lawan was elected again as an APC member four years later, capturing 72% of the vote in 2019.
Read Also: APC National Chairman, Abdullahi Adamu’s Biography, Networth, family life, achievements, and political ambitions
Senate Presidency
After the APC assigned the position to the north-eastern region of Nigeria based on the party’s power-sharing mechanism among the six geopolitical zones at the time, Lawan ran for senate president in 2015. Because of the zoning, only senators from the six states in the northeast who were elected on the party’s platform (the APC) were eligible to run for senate president. Following discussions with important political figures and newly elected senators from the north east, Lawan received support and was introduced to the party’s national leadership, who chose him as the party’s nominee for senate president. The APC’s zoning system forbids senators from other zones from running for the position. Sen. Bukola Saraki, of Kwara State in the north central region of Nigeria, disagreed with the party’s decision, arguing that all competent candidates should be able to exercise their constitutional right to contest for leadership posts in the Senate of Nigeria. Saraki announced his candidacy in opposition to the party’s zoning policy.
On June 9, 2015, the day of the senate president election, 51 APC senators gathered at the International Conference Centre in anticipation of a truce meeting that was reportedly called by the APC leadership and President Muhammadu Buhari with the explicit goal of convincing senator Saraki to give up his ambition and support Lawan when 57 senators, the majority of whom were from the opposition PDP and a small number of APC senators, conducted the election. Saraki was elected with 57 unanimous votes from the senators in attendance. As the voting took place and a winner was declared, Lawal was present at the International Conference Center. His desire to become the 8th Senate President was finally dashed by the circumstance.
Senator Danjuma Goje resigned from the Senate Presidential race for Senator Lawan on Thursday, June 6, 2019, following their meeting with Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari. After defeating his opponent, Senator Ali Ndume, who is also a member of the APC, Senator Ahmed Lawan of the APC was elected and sworn in as the Senate President of the Ninth Legislature of Nigeria on June 11, 2019. With 79 votes to 28, Senator Ahmed Lawan defeated his opponent.
Ahmad Lawan Personal Life
Alhaji Ahmad Ibrahim Lawan is a devout Muslim who frequently performs the Hajj. He possesses the customary titles of Garkuwan Daliban Gamui and Dan Masanin Bade. He is married with children.
Awards
- Senator Ahmed Lawan is a recipient of many prestigious awards which includes;
- National Merit Award as Commander of the Order of the Niger (CON)
- Sardauna Legendary Pillar of Exemplary Leadership Award
- Best Performing Senator in Yobe State by Yobe State Student’s Association
- Best Senator in 2011 by Baseline Global Ventures
- Fellow of the Institute for Government Research and Leadership Technology.
Hope you enjoy this article?
Share your thoughts in the comment session.
Contact us today for your business consultancy and business advisory services. We can help you fine-tune your idea, structure your business, market your business, train your staff, consult on your retirement plan, coach you for financial success. We also write a business plan and help with fundraising strategies and Grant applications. We can help you start, grow, and expand your business.
We help institutions and organizations write concepts, implement Business plans, and train on business Plan writing in Nigeria.
We can help you write a detailed, bankable and comprehensive business plan for your business idea.
Call any of our business plan consultants on 08105636015, 08076359735, and 08113205312.
Or send a WhatsApp message or email us either at dayohub@gmail.com or info@dayoadetiloye.com.
Related