| Abdulrahman Abdulrazaq | |
| Office: | Governor of Kwara State |
| Term Start: | 29 May 2019 |
| Deputy: | Kayode Alabi |
| Predecessor: | Abdulfatah Ahmed |
| Birth Date: | 5 February 1960 |
| Birth Place: | Zaria, Northern Region, British Nigeria (now in Kaduna State, Nigeria) |
| Party: | All Progressives Congress (APC) |
| Spouse: | Olufolake Davies |
| Occupation: | Politician |
AbdulRahman AbdulRazaq (born 5 February 1960) is a Nigerian politician, who has served as governor of Kwara State since 2019.[1] [2]
He was previously the CEO of First Fuels Limited.[3] He contested unsuccessfully for the governor of Kwara State in 2003, 2007 and 2011 respectively under the Congress for Progressive Change political party and was successively defeated by Abubakar Bukola Saraki in 2003 and 2007, and by Abdulfatah Ahmed in 2011. However, in 2019, he contested again under the ruling political party in Nigeria, the All Progressive Congress, and emerged as the governor of Kwara State, after he won the 2019 governorship election in the state.[4] In 2021 he introduces KwaraLEARN in basic education to empower teachers.[5] By May 2023, during the first anniversary of KwaraLEARN's launch, he declared the programme one of his best policies ever.[6] On 1 August 2023, he and other six governors were in the entourage of president Bola Ahmed Tinubu to Republic of Benin for the country's 63rd independence celebration.
He was born in Ilorin West Local Government.[7] AbdulRahman is the son of Alhaji Abdulganiyu Abdulrasaq SAN, the first northern lawyer in Nigeria.[8]
He attended Capital School, Kaduna between 1966 and 1968; Bishop Smith Memorial School Ilorin between 1970 and 1971; and Government College Kaduna where he is said to have earned his West African Senior School Certificate Examination in 1976 (WASSCE).[9]
He joined politics in 1999 when Nigeria returned to democracy. In 2011, he unsuccessfully contested for the governorship election in Kwara State on the platform of Congress for Progressive Change (CPC)[10] and again contested unsuccessfully for Kwara Central Senatorial District on the platform of Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in both 2011 and 2015.[11] He won the gubernatorial primary election of the All Progressive Congress for Kwara State in October 2018.[12]
He was elected as governor of Kwara State at the 2019 governorship election held on 9 March 2019 and sworn in on 29 May 2019.[13] On the 19th of March 2023, Abdulrahman Abdulrazaq was declared winner and reelected as the governor of Kwara State defeating his closest rival Yaman Abdullahi of the People Democratic Party PDP having scored majority votes in the election.[14] On May 24, 2023, he emerged as the new Chairman of the Nigeria Governors’ Forum at a closed-door meeting of the Governors which was held in Abuja succeeding the former governor of Sokoto State, Aminu Tambuwal, who became the Forum's chairman in 2022,[15] with the governor of Oyo State, Seyi Makinde as the deputy chairman.[16]
He is married to Olufolake Molawa Davies Abdulrazaq (born 2 August 1967), and the couple have three sons.[17]
17. "Tinubu, AbdulRazaq, five others travel to Benin Republic" The City Gazette. 1 August 2023. Retrieved 1 August 2023.