Preceded by Mahmud Shinkafi Name Abdul'aziz Yari | Role Politician | |
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Political party All Progressives Congress | ||
Alhaji Abdul'aziz Abubakar Yari (born 1968) is a Nigerian politician who was elected Governor of Zamfara State, Nigeria in the 26 April 2011 national elections, running on the All Nigeria Peoples Party (ANPP) platform. Following the merger of the ANPP and several other opposition parties into the now-governing All Progressives Congress, Mr. Yari became a member of the All Progressives Congress.
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Education
He attended Talata Mafara Township Primary School, then proceeded to Government Teacher’s College in Bakura from 1979 to 1984. He finished his tertiary education at Sokoto Polytechnic from 1991 to 1994 where he obtained a certificate and later a Diploma in Secretarial Studies in 2004.
Political career
Abubakar has been politically active since 1999 when he served as the Secretary of the All Nigeria Peoples Party between 1999 and 2003. He was elected to represent Talata Mafara/Anka Federal Constituency in the House of Representatives. He was Zamfara State chairman of the ANPP, and a member of the cabinet of former Governor Ahmad Sani Yerima. During Sani's tenure, Yari was thought to have gained money from contracts. In November 2007, Yari was among Zamfara state officials charged with money laundering by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission.
When Zamfara State Governor Mahmud Shinkafi defected to the PDP in January 2009, taking the ANPP’s state executive committee with him, the ANPP’s National Headquarters in Abuja was forced to create a Caretaker Committee headed by Yari. The committee's tenure was repeatedly extended.
Yari was elected Governor of Zamfara State, Nigeria in the 26 April 2011 national elections, running on the All Nigeria Peoples Party (ANPP) platform. Yari is the son-in-law of incumbent Governor Mahmud Aliyu Shinkafi of the People's Democratic Party (PDP), whom he defeated in the election by 514,962 votes to Shinkafi's 460,656 votes.