Meet Datti Baba-Ahmed, Son Of Cattle Trader Who Built World Class University At 42

On Friday, the Labour Party presidential candidate, Peter Obi, unveiled Senator Yusuf Datti Baba-Ahmed as his running mate.

Obi said the decision on Baba-Ahmed as his running mate took months of consultations because he needed “somebody who will fit the bill of what we are trying to do and we have been able to meet and secure somebody who is eminently qualified.”

“He brings to this mission a great wealth of experience from the background of the private sector to the public sector and a global knowledge that will help in our journey of turning around this country,” he said.

52-year-old Datti is one of the many sons of Baba-Ahmed, a Mauritanian cattle-trader who migrated to Zaria in the pre-independence era.

After his service year at the University of Agriculture Abeokuta, Ogun state, Datti Baba-Ahmed worked with the Nigerian Security Printing and Minting Company, Lagos.

He then worked as a Banking Officer in First Bank of Nigeria Plc from July 1997 to Dec 1998.

Although not so popular in Nigeria’s political scene, Baba-Ahmed represented Zaria Federal Constituency, Kaduna State, in the Federal House of Representatives from 2003 to 2007.

In 2011, he was elected to the Senate under Congress for Progressive Change (CPC), but his victory was overturned by the electoral tribunal in 2012.

While in the house of reps, he was one of the vocal voices against the Third Term Agenda of former President Olusegun Obasanjo.

On the academic front, Baba-Ahmed has four degrees; a BSc and MSc in Economics from the University of Maiduguri, a MBA from the University of Wales, Cardiff and in 2006 he bagged a Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D) at the University of Westminster.

Baba-Ahmed is also the Pro–Chancellor of Baze University, Abuja which he founded at the age of 42 “to contribute towards fixing the system in order for Nigeria to realize its potentials and address various challenges”.