Umaru Musa Yar'Adua () (16 August 1951 – 5 May 2010) was a Nigerian politician who served as the president of Nigeria from 2007 until his death in May 2010. He won the Nigerian presidential election held on 21 April 2007, and was sworn in on 29 May 2007.
He had previously served as the governor of Katsina State from 1999 to 2007; and was a member of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP). In 2009, Yar'Adua left for Saudi Arabia to receive treatment for pericarditis. He returned to Nigeria on 24 February 2010, but died on 5 May.
Early life, education and career
Umaru Musa Yar'Adua was born on 16 August 1951 in Katsina. His mother was Fatima Dada while his father was Musa Yar'Adua, who was a Federal Minister throughout the Nigerian First Republic and held the chieftaincy title of Matawalle (custodian of the royal treasury) of the Katsina Emirate, a title which the younger Yar'Adua inherited. His paternal grandfather, Malam Umaru, had also held the title of Matawallen Katsina, while his paternal grandmother, Malama Binta, was a sister of Emir Muhammadu Dikko of Katsina.
Yar'Adua started his education at Rafukka Primary School in 1958, and moved to Dutsinma Boarding Primary School in 1962. He attended the Government College at Keffi from 1965 until 1969. In 1971 he received a Higher School Certificate from Barewa College. He attended Ahmadu Bello University (ABU) in Zaria from 1972 to 1975, where he obtained a bachelor's degree in Education and Chemistry, and then returned in 1978 to pursue a master's degree in Analytical Chemistry.
Teaching, business and Marxism
After graduating from ABU, Yar'Adua began his professional career as a teacher at Holy Child College in Lagos from 1975 to 1976, as part of his mandatory National Youth Service Corps service. He then worked as a lecturer at the Katsina College of Arts, Science, and Technology from 1976 to 1979 and then at Katsina Polytechnic from 1979 to 1983, when he began working in the private sector.
During his time at ABU, Yar'Adua was active in the university's radical circles led by Marxist historian Yusufu Bala Usman. In the Second Republic (1979–83), he joined Usman in the leftist People's Redemption Party, while his father was briefly the National Vice Chairman of the National Party of Nigeria.
Yar'Adua worked at Sambo Farms Ltd. in Funtua, Katsina state, as its pioneer General Manager, between 1983 and 1989. He also served as a director of many companies, including Habib Nigeria Bank Ltd, 1995–99; Lodigiani Nigeria Ltd., 1987–99, Hamada Holdings, 1983–99; and Madara Ltd., Vom, Jos, 1987–99. He was Chairman of Nation House Press Ltd., Kaduna, from 1995 to 1999.
He served as a board member of Katsina State Farmers' Supply Company between 1984 and 1985, Member of the Governing Council of Katsina College of Arts, Science and Technology Zaria and Katsina Polytechnic, between 1978 and 1983, board chairman of Katsina State Investment and Property Development Company between 1994 and 1996.
During the transition programme of General Ibrahim Babangida to the Third Republic, Yar'Adua was one of the foundation members of the Peoples Front of Nigeria, a political association under the leadership of his elder brother, Major-General Shehu Musa Yar'Adua. That association later formed the Social Democratic Party (SDP).
Yar'Adua was a member of the 1988 Constituent Assembly. He was a member of the SDP's National Caucus and the party's State Secretary in Katsina. He contested for the governorship position in the 1991 election, but lost to Saidu Barda, the candidate of the National Republican Convention.
After the six years of General Sani Abacha's regime (1993–1998), in which Yar'Adua's brother was murdered in prison, Nigeria began its transition back to democracy under General Abdulsalami Abubakar. In 1998, Yar'Adua formed the political association K34 (representing the 34 local government areas in the state). The group consisted of intellectuals, businessmen, and politicians from Katsina who supported his bid for the 1999 governorship election in the state. Together with Lawal Kaita's Peoples Democratic Movement, the K34 group joined other associations nationwide to form the People's Democratic Party (PDP).
Yar'Adua was elected Governor of Katsina State after receiving more votes than Junaidu Yantumaki of the All People's Party.
Yar'Adua's tenure as state governor focused on socioeconomic development, particularly in the education and health sectors. His administration was described as financially prudent, reportedly clearing the huge state debt he had inherited and accumulating a $50 million surplus in the treasury. He was also known for his transparency, publicly declaring his assets soon after taking office, becoming the first Nigerian governor to do so. He was re-elected in 2003.
Under Yar'Adua, Katsina joined 12 other states in Northern Nigeria in adopting sharia law in August 2000. This decision came after significant public pressure from Muslim groups in the state, with Yar'Adua being accused of impeding its implementation. Katsina's government under Yar'Adua took some steps to accommodate the non-Muslim population. Christian students were to be admitted to the Katsina State Islamic University, and the government sponsored Christian pilgrims to Jerusalem, as it did Muslim pilgrims to Mecca. The state's Ministry of Religious Affairs assisted the Muslim-Christian Dialog organised by an NGO, the Muslim-Christian Forum. The first workshop in Katsina to encourage dialogue between Muslims and Christians was held on 19 and 20 February 2003. These efforts were commended by the Christian Association of Nigeria in Katsina.
Katsina had one of the highest numbers of reported sharia trials among the 12 sharia states during Yar'Adua's administration. Two cases in particular attracted international attention. The first was the case of Sani Yakubu Rodi, who was sentenced to death for homicide in November 2001. Rodi was convicted of stabbing to death the wife of the Katsina State Director of Security and their two children during a robbery. The court initially ruled that Rodi should be executed by stabbing with the same knife used in his crime but this was later changed to death by hanging. According to some reports, this was done to avert riots. He was hanged on 3 January 2002 after Governor Yar'Adua confirmed the verdict. It was the only publicly acknowledged execution in Nigeria since the transition to civilian rule in 1999.
The second internationally known case was that of Amina Lawal, who was sentenced to death by stoning for zinā (unlawful sexual act) in March 2002. The man who she said was responsible for her pregnancy was acquitted after swearing his innocence before the court, while Lawal, who had given birth nine days earlier, was held on the basis of her confession. Following significant international attention, Lawal was acquitted on 2 September 2003. The Katsina Sharia Court of Appeal quashed her death sentence, accepting her withdrawal of the confession citing that "it was clear that she was misled into confessing her guilt."