Ahmad Ibrahim Lawan (born 12 January 1959) is a Nigerian politician and former lecturer who served as the 14th

president of the Nigerian Senate The president of the Nigerian Senate is the presiding officer of the Senate of Nigeria, elected by its membership. The senate president is second in line of succession to the Nigerian presidency, after the vice president of Nigeria. The current ...

from 2019 to 2023. He represents the Yobe North Senatorial District in the

Senate A senate is a deliberative assembly, often the upper house or chamber of a bicameral legislature. The name comes from the ancient Roman Senate (Latin: ''Senatus''), so-called as an assembly of the senior (Latin: ''senex'' meaning "the el ...

as a member of the

All Progressives Congress The All Progressives Congress (APC) is one of the two major contemporary political parties in Nigeria, along with the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP). Founded on 6 February 2013 from a merger of Nigeria's three largest opposition parties, t ...

. A university lecturer from Gashua, Lawan was first elected to the

House of Representatives House of Representatives is the name of legislative bodies in many countries and sub-national entities. In many countries, the House of Representatives is the lower house of a bicameral legislature, with the corresponding upper house often ...

1999 1999 was designated as the International Year of Older Persons. Events January * January 1 – The euro currency is established and the European Central Bank assumes its full powers. * January 3 – The Mars Polar Lander is launc ...

to represent the Bade/

Jakusko Jakusko is a local government area in Yobe State, Nigeria. Its headquarters are in the town of Jakusko in the west of the area at . It has an area of 3,941 km and a population of 229,083 at the 2006 census. The postal code of the area is 63 ...

Constituency as a member of the

All Nigeria Peoples Party The All Nigeria Peoples Party (ANPP) was a political party in Nigeria. The ANPP was a household party in the extreme north of Nigeria, primarily due to its mass appeal among more religious voters. It was the strongest opposition party, controllin ...

. Lawan was reelected in

2003 2003 was designated by the United Nations as the International Year of Fresh water, Freshwater. In 2003, a Multi-National Force – Iraq, United States-led coalition 2003 invasion of Iraq, invaded Iraq, starting the Iraq War. Demographic ...

before successfully running to become Yobe North Senator in

2007 2007 was designated as the International Heliophysical Year and the International Polar Year. Events January * January 1 **Bulgaria and Romania 2007 enlargement of the European Union, join the European Union, while Slovenia joins the Eur ...

. After being reelected in

2011 The year marked the start of a Arab Spring, series of protests and revolutions throughout the Arab world advocating for democracy, reform, and economic recovery, later leading to the depositions of world leaders in Tunisia, Egypt, and Yemen ...

2015 2015 was designated by the United Nations as: * International Year of Light * International Year of Soil __TOC__ Events January * January 1 – Lithuania officially adopts the euro as its currency, replacing the litas, and becomes ...

, and

2019 This was the year in which the first known human case of COVID-19 was documented, preceding COVID-19 pandemic, the pandemic which was declared by the World Health Organization the following year. Up to that point, 2019 had been described as ...

(as a member of the

All Progressive Congress The All Progressives Congress (APC) is one of the two major contemporary political parties in Nigeria, along with the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP). Founded on 6 February 2013 from a merger of Nigeria's three largest opposition parties, th ...

, successor to the ANPP), Lawan was elected the new Senate President with 79 votes cast to beat Senator Mohammed Ali Ndume with 28 votes after the inauguration of the 9th Nigeria National Assembly in 2019. It was his second attempt at becoming Senate President, with a notable failed run in 2015.

Early life and education

Lawan was born on 12 January 1959 in Gashua, then in the north of

British Nigeria Colonial Nigeria was ruled by the British Empire from the mid-nineteenth century until 1st of October 1960 when Nigeria achieved independence. Britain annexed Lagos in 1861 and established the Oil River Protectorate in 1884. British influen ...

. He completed primary school at Sabon Gari Primary School, Gashua in 1974 and secondary school at Government Secondary School, Gashua in 1979 before receiving a bachelor's degree in Geography from the University of Maiduguri in 1984. After university, Lawan completed his compulsory service year in

Benue State Benue is a State in the North Central Nigeria, North Central region of Nigeria. It is popularly referred to as part of the Middle belt. It has an estimated population of about 4,253,641 in List of Nigerian states by population, the 2006 census. ...

before getting a master's degree in Remote Sensing from the

Ahmadu Bello University The Ahmadu Bello University (ABU) is a public research university located in Zaria, Nigeria, Zaria, Kaduna State, Nigeria. It was opened in 1962 as the University of Northern Nigeria. The university has four colleges, three schools, 18 faculties, ...

and a Doctorate degree in Remote Sensing/GIS from

Cranfield University Cranfield University is a postgraduate-only public research university in the United Kingdom that specialises in science, engineering, design, technology and management. Cranfield was founded as the College of Aeronautics (CoA) in 1946. Throug ...

in 1990 and 1996, respectively.

Early career

Lawan worked in the Yobe State Civil Service as an Education Officer in the state Ministry of Education in 1985 and 1986 before lecturing at his alma mater, University of Maiduguri between 1987 and 1997.

Political career

After being elected to the House of Representatives for the constituency of Bade/

in 1999, at different times Lawan chaired the House Committees on education and agriculture. Lawan was elected to the Senate in 2007. In 2008, he was a member of the National Assembly's Joint Committee on Constitution Review. In 2009, as chairman of the Senate committee on Public Accounts, Lawan initiated and sponsored the Desertification Control Commission Bill. In August 2009, Senator Lawan spoke against the proposed Kafin Zaki Dam. He stated that the Tiga Dam and Challawa Gorge Dam had already reduced water flow drastically, and the Jama'are River was now the main source of water in the Yobe River. He said the dams caused intense poverty, increased desert encroachment, migration and conflicts between arable farmers and herdsmen. Lawan ran for reelection in Yobe North Senatorial District on the ANPP platform in the 9 April 2011 elections. He won with 92,799 votes, trailed by Hassan Kafayos Hussaini of the People's Democratic Party (PDP) with 76,960 votes. Four years later, Lawan won reelection as a member of the APC before winning with 72% of the vote in

. Lawan was named chairman, Senate committee on defence on 8 August 2023.

Senate Presidency

2015 election

In 2015 Lawan ran for the senate president after APC zoned the position to the north east of Nigeria based on the party's power-sharing formula among the six geo-political zones at the time. The zoning meant that only senators elected on the platform of the party (APC) from the six states in the north east could run for senate president. After consultations with critical political stakeholders and senators elect from the north east, Lawan was endorsed and presented to the national leadership of the party who anointed him as the candidate of the party for senate president. The APC zoning arrangement prevented other senators-elect who were from other zones from contesting for the seat. But senator Bukola Saraki from

Kwara State Kwara () is a state in Western Nigeria, bordered to the east by Kogi State, to the north by Niger State, and to the south by Ekiti, Osun, and Oyo states, while its western border makes up part of the international border with Benin. Its ca ...

, north central

Nigeria Nigeria, officially the Federal Republic of Nigeria, is a country in West Africa. It is situated between the Sahel to the north and the Gulf of Guinea in the Atlantic Ocean to the south. It covers an area of . With Demographics of Nigeria, ...

disagreed with the party's arrangement saying all qualified candidates should be allowed to exercise their constitutional rights to run for positions of leadership of the Nigerian Senate. Saraki declared his candidacy against the party's zoning principle. On the morning of 9 June 2015 the day for the election of the senate president 51 senators of the APC gathered at the International Conference Centre waiting for a truce meeting reportedly called by the leadership of the APC and President

Muhammadu Buhari Muhammadu Buhari (born 17 December 1942) is a Nigerian politician who served as the president of Nigeria from 2015 to 2023. A retired Nigerian army major general, he was the military head of state of Nigeria from 31 December 1983 to 27 Augu ...

with a clear objective to prevail on senator Saraki to drop his ambition and support Lawan when 57 senators mostly of the opposition PDP and a few senators of APC present conducted the election. Saraki won the election by 57 unanimous votes of the senators present during the election. Lawan was at the International Conference Centre when the election was conducted and a winner emerged. That event finally nailed his ambition for the president of the 8th senate.

2019 election

After meeting with the Nigerian president

on Thursday, 6 June 2019, Senator Danjuma Goje stepped down for Lawan from the Senate Presidency race. On 11 June 2019, Lawan was elected and sworn in as the Senate President of the Nigerian 9th Assembly, after defeating his opponent, Senator Ali Ndume who is also an APC Senator. Lawan defeated his opponent with 79 votes to 28.

Corruption allegations

After the passage of the Petroleum Industry Bill (PIB) in August 2021, Lawan and other legislators were accused of receiving bribes to guarantee the legislation's advancement despite significant public opposition to parts of the text. According to Peoples Gazette reporting, at least $10 million was paid to legislators in payments organized by Minister of State for Petroleum Resources Timipre Sylva and Akwa Ibom North-East Senator Bassey Albert Akpan with between $1.5 million and $2 million going to both Lawan and House Speaker

Femi Gbajabiamila Olufemi Hakeem Gbajabiamila (born 25 June 1962), is a Nigerian lawyer and politician, who has served as Chief of Staff to the President of Nigeria since 2023. He previously served as the 14th Speaker of the House of Representatives of Niger ...

. Multiple legislators corroborated the story with several legislators expressing anger, not that Gbajabiamila and Lawan allegedly took bribes but instead that the bribes were not shared equally among the legislators as other legislators claimed to have received $5,000 for representatives and $20,000 for senators. Gbajabiamila, Lawan, Sylva, and Akpan all initially declined to comment on the report. Several days after the story broke, Lawan denied it, stating that the report was "unwarranted, unproven, and false" before warning Nigerians to "always think positive about their leaders and their governments" and advising that "if they have issues they feel very strongly about, let them speak the truth and we are prepared to tell corrections that that we feel should be able to make us do better."

Awards

In October 2022, a Nigerian National Honour of Grand Commander of the Order of the Niger (GCON) was conferred on him by President

References

Notes

{{DEFAULTSORT:Lawan, Ahmad 1959 births Living people Nigerian Muslims Ahmadu Bello University alumni All Progressives Congress politicians Alumni of Cranfield University Presidents of the Senate (Nigeria) People from Yobe State University of Maiduguri alumni Grand Commanders of the Order of the Niger Members of the 4th National Assembly (Nigeria) Members of the 5th National Assembly (Nigeria) Senators of the 6th National Assembly (Nigeria) Senators of the 7th National Assembly (Nigeria) Senators of the 8th National Assembly (Nigeria) Senators of the 9th National Assembly (Nigeria) Senators of the 10th National Assembly (Nigeria)