Senator · Sardaunan Kano
Mallam Ibrahim Shekarau, CON, PEN
Educator. Administrator. Statesman.
Two-term Governor of Kano State (2003–2011), former Federal Minister of Education, and former Senator for Kano Central. A mathematics teacher by training and a principal by vocation — Senator Shekarau has spent five decades in service to education, public administration, and the Nigerian people.
Born
November 5, 1955
Place of Birth
Kurmawa Quarters, Kano City
Origin
Giginyu, Nassarawa LGA, Kano State
Profession
Educator / Administrator / Politician
Traditional Title
Sardaunan Kano (2009)
Early Life
Ibrahim Shekarau was born on November 5, 1955 at Kurmawa Quarters in the ancient city of Kano, to a family whose father served in the Nigeria Police Force. His roots trace to Giginyu in Nassarawa Local Government Area of Kano State. Shaped by the scholarly and commercial heritage of Kano, his childhood coincided with Nigeria's First Republic and the final years before the nation's Civil War — a formative period that would later inform his lifelong commitment to education, unity, and statecraft.
Education
Gidan Makama Primary School, Kano City
January 1961 to December 1967
Primary education in the ancient city of Kano.
Aminu Kano Commercial College
January 1968 to December 1972
West African School Certificate and Royal Society of Arts, London.
Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria
September 1973 to July 1977
B.Sc. Mathematics Education.
Bayero University, Kano
June to September 1976
Certificate in Guidance and Counselling (vacation course).
Later conferred honorary doctorates by the University of Nigeria, Nsukka (D.Public Admin., 2009); Al-Hikmah University, Ilorin (D.Political Science, 2011); and Ritman University, Ikot-Ekpene (D.Sc. Honoris Causa, 2019).
A Life of Service
Teaching & Administration
Shekarau began his career in 1977 as an NYSC teacher at Madonna Boys High School, Etiti, in Imo State — an experience he often credits with deepening his national outlook. On return to Kano in 1978 he taught mathematics at Government Technical College, Wudil, before being appointed principal at a succession of prestigious schools: Government Day JSS Wudil, Government Secondary School Hadejia, Government College Birnin Kudu, Government Secondary School Gwammaja, and Rumfa College, Kano (1988–1992). During this period he also served two terms as National President of the All Nigeria Confederation of Principals of Secondary Schools (ANCOPSS), 1988–1992.
Civil Service
From 1992, he held senior administrative posts in Kano State — Deputy Director of Education, Director of Planning, Research and Statistics, and ultimately Permanent Secretary in the Ministries of Education, Water Resources, Civil Service Commission, and Cabinet Office. He voluntarily retired from the Kano State Civil Service in October 2001 as a Chief Lecturer in Mathematics at the Kano State College of Arts, Science and Remedial Studies.
Political Life
Elected Governor of Kano State in April 2003 on the platform of the All Nigeria Peoples Party, he was re-elected in 2007 — the first governor of Kano to win a second term. He contested the Presidency of Nigeria in 2011, served as Federal Minister of Education under President Goodluck Jonathan from 2014 to 2015, and was elected Senator for Kano Central Senatorial District in 2019. Across his political life he has chaired the ANPP merger that formed the APC, led the PDP Forum of Former Governors, and today chairs the League of Northern Democrats.
Party Affiliations
ANPP
2003–2013
Governor, Presidential Candidate
APC
2013–2015
Merger Chairman
PDP
2016–2018
BoT Member, Forum of Ex-Governors Chairman
NNPP / APC
2019–2023
Senator, Kano Central
His movement between parties reflects the evolving landscape of Nigerian democracy and his consistent commitment to service above partisanship.
Values
A devout Muslim, Senator Shekarau has long been associated with Islamic education and reform: as patron of the Muslim Students' Society of Nigeria (Kano), chairman of the Hudaibiyya Foundation's nursery and Islamiyya primary school, member of the Governing Board of the National Islamic Centre, Zaria, and a frequent speaker on Shari'ah, governance, and interfaith harmony. His public life has been defined by a quiet, scholarly temperament, punctuated by his signature commitment to societal reorientation (A Daidaita Sahu).