Profile
Ahmad Ibrahim Lawan is the Senate President of the 9th National Assembly, elected on the platform of All Progressives Congress. He has been representing the Yobe North Senatorial District since 2007. He is a professor by profession.
Personal Life
He was born on 12th January 1959 in Gashua, in the then North of British Nigeria, now Yobe State. He is a Muslim, married with children, and holds the traditional titles of Dan Masanin Bade and Garkuwan Daliban Gamui.
Education
| School | Qualification | Year |
| Cranfield University, United Kingdom | PhD in Remote Sensing/Geographic Information System | 1996 |
| Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria, Kaduna State | M.Sc Remote Sensing | 1991 |
| Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria, Kaduna State | Post graduate diploma in Land Survey | 1989-1990 |
| University of Maiduguri, Borno State | B.Sc Geography | 1980-1984 |
| Government Secondary School, Gashua, Yobe State | West African Senior Secondary Certificate | 1974-1979 |
| Sabon Gari Primary School, Gashua, Yobe State | First School Leaving Certificate | 1967-1974 |
Work History
| Place | Position | Date |
| University of Maiduguri, Borno State | Lecturer, Department of Geography
Researcher, Centre for Arid Zone Studies |
1987-1997 |
| College of Education, Gashua, Yobe State | Assistant Lecturer | 1986-1987 |
| Borno State Ministry of Education | Education Officer | 1985-1986 |
Gashua, Yobe State
12th January 1959
Yobe State
All Progressives Congress
Islam
Senate Majority Leader of the 8th National Assembly (2017-2019)
Federal House of Representatives Member, representing Bade/Jakusko Federal Constituency (1999-2007)
Senate President of the 9th National Assembly (since 2019)
Senator, representing Yobe North Senatorial District (since 2007)
Political History
Lawan’s political journey began by being the Pioneer Vice Chairman of the now-defunct All Peoples Party (APP), Yobe State Chapter between 1998 and 1999. He also served as the Secretary, Electoral Committee of the party at the APP National Convention, Abuja in 1999. In the same year, he was elected to the House of Representatives, to represent the Bade/Jakusko Federal Constituency, on the platform of the All Nigeria Peoples Party. Lawan was re-elected in 2003, thereby holding this position until 2007. At different times, he chaired the House Committees on Agriculture (2003-2005) and Education (2005-2007).
In 2007, he ran for the senatorial seat representing Yobe North Senatorial District, and he emerged the winner. As the Chairman of the Senate Committee on Public Accounts, in 2009, Lawan initiated and sponsored the Desertification Control Commission Bill.
Lawan was re-elected into the Senate on 9th April 2011, still on the platform of the All Nigeria Peoples Party. In the 2015 general elections, he won a third term as the Senator representing Yobe North Senatorial District. However, he won this under the banner of the All Progressives Congress.
In 2015, Lawan also ran for the Senate President after All Progressives Congress zoned the position to the North-Eastern part of Nigeria. This zoning meant that only senators elected on the platform of the party (APC) from the six states in the North East could run for senate president. Lawan was endorsed and presented to the national leadership of the party who anointed him as the candidate of the party for senate president. However, Senator Bukola Saraki from Kwara State, North Central disagreed with the party’s arrangement saying all qualified candidates should be allowed to exercise their constitutional rights to run for positions of leadership of the Nigerian Senate. Thus, he declared his candidacy against the party’s zoning principle.
Saraki won with 57 unanimous votes from mostly PDP senators and a few senators of APC who were present on the election ground. Lawal and 51 APC senators were at the International Conference Centre, waiting for a truce meeting when the election was conducted and a winner emerged.
Lawan however served as the Senate Majority Leader between January 2017 and June 2019, under the 8th National Assembly. He also got another opportunity to run for the Senate President of the 9th National Assembly. On June 11th 2019, he was elected and sworn in as the Senate President of the 9th Assembly, after defeating APC Senator Mohammed Ali Ndume, with 79 votes to 28 votes.
Leadership Style/Philosophy
Awards & Honours
- 2021 Lifetime Achievement Award in Politics by the New Telegraph
- 2020 Award of Appreciation by Surveyors Council of Nigeria
- 2012 Fellow, Institute for Government Research and Leadership Technology
- 2011 Best Senator by Baseline Global Ventures
- 2009 Best Performing Senator in Yobe State by Yobe State Students’ Association, University of Abuja Chapter
- National Honour of the Commander of the Order of the Niger (CON)
- Sardauna Legendary Pillar of Exemplary Leadership Award by Leadership and Role Model Foundation of Nigeria
- Award as Longest-Serving Parliamentarian by the Senate Press Corps
- Achievement Award as one of the Most Active Legislative of the 8th Nigerian National Assembly
Project
- Sponsored the training of 1000 Yobe State youths on GSM technology, software and entrepreneurship development
- Facilitated the establishment of an ICT Park in Nguru town, Yobe
- Reconstruction of Nguru-Gashua and Gashua-Baymari roads
- Facilitated the approval of the construction of Gasamu-Amshi-Gogaram road at the cost of ₦14.5 billion
- Sponsored mass weddings across the Bade, Jakusko, Karasuwa, Machina, Nguru and Yusufari local governments in Yobe North
- Sponsored free animal vaccination which protects against Contagious Bovine Pleuro Pneumonia (CBPP)
- Facilitated the Recovery of Public Property Bill, Amendment of Assets Management Corporation Act, Nigeria Road Safety Commission Bill, Federal Universities of Agriculture Act (Amendment)
- Provision of culverts to end perennial flooding in his senatorial zone
- Provision of 52 transformers for easier distribution of power across Yobe North
- Construction of modern maternal and child hospital in Gashua
- Built Model Islamiyya schools in all local governments in Yobe North, to boost Western and Islamic education
- Initiation of scholarship scheme to students of tertiary institutions, and provision of 1000 free JAMB forms every year
Criticism/Controversy
- Following the passage of the Petroleum Industry Bill (PIB) in August 2021, Lawan and other legislators were accused of receiving bribes to guarantee the legislation’s advancement despite significant public opposition to parts of the text. According to reports, at least $10 million was paid to legislators in payments organized by the Minister of State for Petroleum Resources, Timipre Sylva and Akwa Ibom North-East Senator, Bassey Albert Akpan, with between $1.5 million and $2 million going to both Lawan and House Speaker, Femi Gbajabiamila. Several days after the story broke, Lawan denied it, stating that the report was “unwarranted, unproven, and false” before warning Nigerians to “always think positive about their leaders and their governments”.
- In 2020, following the END SARS protests, Lawan opposed calls to scrap the Special Anti-Robbery Squad (SARS). According to him, there are good personnel in the police unit who could be denied the chance of performing better should the unit be scrapped.
