Ahmad Ibrahim Lawan, born January 12, 1959, better known as Ahmed Lawan, is a Nigerian professor, politician, and senator representing the Yobe North Senatorial District and the President of the Senate of Nigeria. Ahmed Lawan is a member of the All Progressives Congress (APC).
Wiki Profile
| Full Name: | Ahmad Ibrahim Lawan |
| Date of Birth: | January 12, 1959 |
| Place of Birth: | Yobe |
| State of Origin: | Yobe State |
| Nationality: | Nigerian |
| Occupation: | Politician |
| Net Worth: | $10 million |
| Wife: | Zainab Algoni Abdulwahid |
Early Life and Education
Ahmed Lawan was born in Gashua, then in British Nigeria’s northwestern region. In 1974, he graduated from Sabon Gari Primary School in Gashua.
In 1979, he graduated from Government Secondary School in Gashua with a bachelor’s degree in geography from the University of Maiduguri.
Lawan completed his required service year in Benue State after graduating from university, earning a master’s degree in remote sensing from Ahmadu Bello University in 1990 and a doctorate degree in remote sensing/GIS from Cranfield University in 1996.
Career
In 1985 and 1986, Lawan served as an Education Officer in the Yobe State Civil Service’s Ministry of Education before lecturing at his alma mater, the University of Maiduguri, from 1987 to 1997.
Lawan, a university lecturer from Gashua, was first elected to the House of Representatives in 1999 as a member of the All Nigeria Peoples Party to represent the Bade/Jakusko Constituency.
In 2003, Lawan was re-elected, and in 2007, he ran for Yobe North Senator, which he won.
After being re-elected in 2011, 2015, and 2019 (as a member of the All Progressive Congress, the successor of the ANPP), Lawan was elected Senate President with 79 votes cast, defeating Senator Mohammed Ali Ndume with 28 votes, after the 9th Nigerian National Assembly was inaugurated in 2019.
It was his second candidacy for Senate President, following a significant failure in 2015.
Lawan led the House Committees on Education and Agriculture at various times after being elected to the House of Representatives for the seat of Bade/Jakusko in 1999.
In 2007, Lawan was elected to the Senate. He was on the Joint Committee on Constitutional Review of the National Assembly in 2008.
Lawan initiated and sponsored the Desertification Control Commission Bill in 2009 as 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 Tiga Dam and Challawa Gorge Dam had already significantly reduced water flow, and that the Jama’are River was now the Yobe River’s primary supply of water.
He said that the dams resulted in extreme poverty, desert encroachment, migration, and confrontations between arable farmers and herders.
In the 9 April 2011 elections, Lawan ran for reelection in Yobe North Senatorial District on the ANPP platform. Hassan Kafayos Hussaini of the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) received 76,960 votes, trailing him with 92,799 votes.
Lawan was re-elected as a member of the APC four years later, before winning with 72 percent of the vote in 2019.
Lawan ran for Senate President in 2015 after the APC assigned the seat to the north eastern Nigerian region based on the party’s power-sharing formula at the time.
Because of the zoning, only senators elected on the APC platform from the six states in the north east were eligible to run for Senate President.
After meetings with key political stakeholders and senators-elect from the northeast, Lawan was endorsed and presented to the national leadership of the party, who nominated him as the party’s candidate for Senate President.
Other senators elected from other zones are barred from running for the seat due to the APC’s zoning scheme.
Senator Bukola Saraki of Kwara State in Nigeria’s north central region, however, disagreed with the party’s decision, arguing that all competent candidates should be allowed to exercise their constitutional right to run for Senate leadership positions.
Saraki announced his candidacy in defiance of the party’s zoning policy.
On the morning of June 9, 2015, the day of the Senate President’s election, 51 APC senators gathered at the International Conference Centre, reportedly convened by the APC leadership and President Muhammadu Buhari with a clear objective to persuade senator Saraki to drop his ambition and support Lawan, when the election was conducted by 57 senators, mostly from the opposition PDP and a few APC senators.
That event cemented his bid for the presidency of the Eighth Senate.
Senator Danjuma Goje stood aside from the Senate Presidency election on Thursday, June 6, 2019, after meeting with Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari.
Senator Ahmed Lawan of the APC was elected and sworn in as the Senate President of Nigeria’s 9th Assembly on June 11, 2019, after defeating his opponent, Senator Ali Ndume of the APC.
Senator Ahmed Lawan defeated his opponent by a margin of 79 to 28 votes.
Senator Ahmed Lawan Net Worth
Senator Ahmed Lawan is a Nigerian professor and politician with an estimated net worth of $10 million. He is the senator representing the Yobe North Senatorial District and the President of the Senate of Nigeria.
Personal Life
Senator Ahmed Lawan got married to Zainab Algoni Abdulwahid in June 2021. The wedding was held at Sheikh Sharif Ibrahim Saleh’s mosque in Maiduguri.
