Abdulrahman Bello Dambazau (born 14 March 1954) is a retired Nigerian army general and politician who served as Chief of Army Staff between 2008 and 2010 and in President Muhammadu Buhari's

Cabinet Cabinet or The Cabinet may refer to: Furniture * Cabinetry, a box-shaped piece of furniture with doors and/or drawers * Display cabinet, a piece of furniture with one or more transparent glass sheets or transparent polycarbonate sheets * Filing ...

Minister of the Interior An interior minister (sometimes called a minister of internal affairs or minister of home affairs) is a cabinet official position that is responsible for internal affairs, such as public security, civil registration and identification, emergency ...

from 2015 to 2019.

Early life

Family

Dambazau was born into an aristocratic military class family of the Fulani Dambazawa clan. His father served in the

Colonial Army Colonial troops or colonial army refers to various military units recruited from, or used as garrison troops in, colonial territories. Colonial background Such colonies may lie overseas or in areas dominated by neighbouring land powers such ...

, and his brothers held senior posts in the army. He also holds the traditional title of Baraden Kano.

Education

Dambazau's secondary education took place at

Barewa College Barewa College is a college in Zaria, Kaduna State, northern Nigeria. Founded in 1921 by British Governor General Hugh Clifford, it was originally known as Katsina College. It switched its name to Kaduna College in 1938 and to Government College, ...

, Zaria, where he graduated in 1974. In 1979, Dambazau attended the US Army Military Police School at Fort McClellan. Dambazau later obtained a bachelor's degree in criminal justice from Kent State University in 1982 and a PhD in

criminology Criminology (from Latin , "accusation", and Ancient Greek , ''-logia'', from λόγος ''logos'' meaning: "word, reason") is the study of crime and deviant behaviour. Criminology is an interdisciplinary field in both the behavioural and so ...

from the

University of Keele Keele University, officially known as the University of Keele, is a Public university#United Kingdom, public research university in Keele, approximately from Newcastle-under-Lyme, Staffordshire, England. Founded in 1949 as the University Coll ...

in 1989.

Military career

In 1974, he proceeded to the Nigerian Defence Academy as a member of the 17 Regular Combatant Course. He was commissioned as a second lieutenant into the Infantry Corps of the Nigerian Army in June 1977.

Command

Dambazau served as a military police officer, aide-de-camp to the Chief of Army Staff (1979), commanded military police units and served as a special investigator (1984-1985). Dambazau was registrar of the Nigerian Defence Academy from 1993 to 1999. He also served as chief instructor, Support Weapon Wing of the Infantry Centre and School from 1999 to 2001 and later as directing staff at the National War College from 2004 to 2006. From 2007 to 2008, he served as general officer commanding (GOC) 2nd Division, Ibadan.

Chief of Army Staff

He was appointed Chief of Army Staff in 2008 by President

Umaru Yar'Adua Umaru Musa Yar'Adua (16 August 19515 May 2010) was a Nigerian politician who, was the President of Nigeria from 2007 to 2010. He was declared the winner of the Nigerian presidential election held on 21 April 2007, and was sworn in on 29 May 20 ...

. Towards the end of the Yar'Adua administration, the army was accused of attempts to covertly seize power due to Yar'Adua's illness. After Yar'Adua's death, Dambazau was retired from service by President Goodluck Jonathan.

Political career

Following his retirement in 2010, Dambazau went into politics, later joining 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, the ...

(APC). During the 2015 presidential election, he was the head of the security committee of the APC campaign organisation, he later lost out to be appointed

National Security Adviser A national security advisor serves as the chief advisor to a national government on matters of security. The advisor is not usually a member of the government's cabinet but is usually a member of various military or security councils. National sec ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Dambazau, Abdulrahman Dambazawa Family 1954 births Chiefs of Army Staff (Nigeria) Nigerian Army officers Nigerian generals Nigerian Defence Academy alumni Barewa College alumni Nigerian military police officers Kent State University alumni Alumni of Keele University Living people People from Zaria Federal ministers of Nigeria Interior ministers of Nigeria