Idris Garba was the

Military Governor A military government is generally any form of government that is administered by military forces, whether or not this government is legal under the laws of the jurisdiction at issue, and whether this government is formed by natives or by an occup ...

Benue State Benue State is one of the North Central states in Nigeria with a population of about 4,253,641 in 2006 census. The state was created in 1976 among the 7 states created at that time.The state derives its name from the Benue River which is t ...

from 1987 to 1988 and Governor of Kano State from 1989 to 1992.

Background

Idris Garba was born in July 1947 in

Gulu Gulu is a city in the Northern Region of Uganda. It is the commercial and administrative centre of Gulu District. The coordinates of the city of Gulu are 2°46'54.0"N 32°17'57.0"E. The distance from Gulu to Kampala, Uganda's capital and larg ...

Lapai Lapai is a Local Government Area in Niger State, Nigeria, adjoining the Federal Capital Territory. Its headquarters are in the town of Lapai on the A124 highway in the west of the area at . It has an area of 3,051 km and a population of 11 ...

Local Government Area (LGA) of

Niger State Niger is a state in the North Central region of Nigeria and the largest state in the country. Niger state has three political zones, zone A,B and C. The state's capital is at Minna. Other major cities are Bida, Kontagora and Suleja. It was ...

Nigeria Nigeria ( ), , ig, Naìjíríyà, yo, Nàìjíríà, pcm, Naijá , ff, Naajeeriya, kcg, Naijeriya 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 G ...

. He had a secondary education in the

Nigerian Military School The Nigerian Military School Zaria, popularly known as (NMS), founded as the Boys-Company of Nigeria in 1954, was established under the auspices of Nigerian Regiment Training centre of the Royal West African Frontier Force (RWAFF). The school was ...

Zaria Zaria is a metropolitan city in Nigeria which at the present time lies within four (4) local government areas in Kaduna state; it happens to be the capital city to the Zazzau Emirate Council, and one of the original seven Hausa city-states ...

1963 - 1967.

Military training

He entered the

Nigerian Defence Academy The Nigerian Defence Academy (NDA) is a military university based in Kaduna, Nigeria that trains officer cadets for commissioning into one of the three services of the Nigerian Armed Forces: the Army, the Navy, and the Air Force. The duration of ...

Kaduna Kaduna is the capital city of Kaduna State, and the former political capital of Northern Nigeria. It is located in north-western Nigeria, on the Kaduna River. It is a trade Centre and a major transportation hub as the gateway to northern Nig ...

, and was commissioned as a

second lieutenant Second lieutenant is a junior commissioned officer military rank in many armed forces, comparable to NATO OF-1 rank. Australia The rank of second lieutenant existed in the military forces of the Australian colonies and Australian Army until 1 ...

in 1968. He attended the following courses: *Artillery Troop Commanders Course

USSR The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, it was nominally a federal union of fifteen nation ...

, July 1970 - September 1971 *Young Officers Course Nowshera,

Pakistan Pakistan ( ur, ), officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan ( ur, , label=none), is a country in South Asia. It is the world's List of countries and dependencies by population, fifth-most populous country, with a population of almost 24 ...

, July - December, 1972 *Technical Gunnery Course

Larkhill Larkhill is a garrison town in the civil parish of Durrington, Wiltshire, England. It lies about west of the centre of Durrington village and north of the prehistoric monument of Stonehenge. It is about north of Salisbury. The settlement ...

Salisbury Salisbury ( ) is a cathedral city in Wiltshire, England with a population of 41,820, at the confluence of the rivers Avon, Nadder and Bourne. The city is approximately from Southampton and from Bath. Salisbury is in the southeast of Wil ...

, UK, May - August, 1975. *Field Artillery Officers Advanced Course, Forstill, Oklahoma, USA June 1977 to February 1978; *Command and Staff College, Jaji August 1978 to September, 1979 *Regiment Battalion Commanders Course, Nigerian Army School of Infantry, Jaji in 1981.

Military command

His commands were: *Troop Commander, second Field Artillery Regiment,

Onitsha Onitsha ( or just ''Ọ̀nị̀chà'') is a city located on the eastern bank of the Niger River, in Anambra State, Nigeria. A metropolitan area, metropolitan city, Onitsha is known for its river port and as an economic hub for commerce, industr ...

, (November, 1968 to September 1969) *Commanding Officer, second Field Artillery Regent (Rear)

Ibadan Ibadan (, ; ) is the capital and most populous city of Oyo State, in Nigeria. It is the third-largest city by population in Nigeria after Lagos and Kano, with a total population of 3,649,000 as of 2021, and over 6 million people within its ...

(September 1969 to July 1970) *Battalion Commander, Oyo (September 1971 to October 1973) *Instructor/Chief Instructor Nigerian Army School of Artillery (Kaduna 1974 to August 1976) *Commanding Officer, Commander, Heavy Artillery Regiment (September 1976 to April 1980) *Company Commander 82 Infantry Battalion

United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon The United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon ( ar, قوة الأمم المتحدة المؤقتة في لبنان, he, כוח האו"ם הזמני בלבנון), or UNIFIL ( ar, يونيفيل, he, יוניפי״ל), is a UN peacekeeping m ...

, Lebanon (May to December 1980) *Commanding Officer, 342 Support Regiment, Zaria (1981 to 1983) *Deputy Defence Adviser, Nigerian Embassy, Moscow (1983 to 1986) *Commander Officer, Short Service Course NDA Kaduna (1986 to 1988)

Military governor

In 1988, General

Ibrahim Babangida Ibrahim Badamasi Babangida (born 17 August, 1941) is a retired Nigerian Army general and politician. He served as military president of Nigeria from 1985 until his resignation in 1993. He rose through the ranks to serve from 1984 to 1985 as Ch ...

appointed him Military

Governor of Benue State The governor of Benue state leads the executive branch.He appoints heads of the state ministries .He is also the chief security officer of the state.The current governor is Samuel Ortom.This is a list of administrators and governors of Benue Stat ...

. He was then appointed governor of

Kano State Kano State ( Hausa: ''Jihar Kano''جىِهَر كَنوُ) (Fula: Leydi Kano 𞤤𞤫𞤴𞤣𞤭 𞤳𞤢𞤲𞤮𞥅 ) is one of the 36 states of Nigeria, located in the northern region of the country. According to the national census done in ...

in August 1988, serving until 1992 when he hand-over to civilian Kabiru Ibrahim Gaya in the build up to the

Nigerian Third Republic The Third Republic was the planned republican government of Nigeria in 1993 which was to be governed by the Third Republican constitution. Founded (1993) The constitution of the Third Republic was drafted in 1989. General Ibrahim Badamasi B ...

. Col. Idris Garba enacted an edict which repealed previous laws and vested the Kano State Sports Council with the responsibilities of promoting and developing sports in the state.

References

1947 births Living people Nigerian Muslims Governors of Benue State Governors of Kano State Nigerian Army officers {{Nigeria-mil-bio-stub