Mahmood Yakubu (born 1962) is a

Nigerian Nigerians or the Nigerian people are citizens of Nigeria or people with ancestry from Nigeria. The name Nigeria was taken from the Niger River running through the country. This name was allegedly coined in the late 19th century by British jour ...

academic and current chairman of

Independent National Electoral Commission The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) was established in 1998 and is the electoral body which oversees elections in Nigeria. History Regulation and administration of elections The administration of democratic elections in Nige ...

(INEC). Mahmood was appointed to office by President

Muhammadu Buhari Muhammadu Buhari (born 17 December 1942) is a Nigerian politician and current president of Nigeria since 2015. Buhari is a retired Nigerian Army major general who served as the country's military head of state from 31 December 1983 to 27 Au ...

on 21 October 2015, succeeding Amina Zakari, who served as acting chairman.

Early life and education

Mahmood Yakubu was born in

Bauchi State Bauchi State (Fula: ''Leydi Bauchi'' 𞤤𞤫𞤴𞤣𞤭 𞤦𞤢𞤵𞤷𞥅𞤭) is a state in the North-East geopolitical zone of Nigeria, bordered by Kano and Jigawa to the north, Taraba and Plateau to the south, Gombe and Yobe to the ea ...

, Northern Nigeria. He completed his basic and secondary school education at Kobi Primary School and Government Teachers College, Toro, respectively. He proceeded to the University of Sokoto (now

Usmanu Danfodiyo University Usmanu Danfodiyo University, Sokoto (UDUS), also known as UDUSOK, is a public research university located in the city of Sokoto, north western Part of Nigeria. It is one of the initial twelve universities founded in Nigeria by the federal gover ...

), where he became the first and, to date, only Nigerian from the North to obtain a

first-class degree The British undergraduate degree classification system is a grading structure for undergraduate degrees or bachelor's degrees and integrated master's degrees in the United Kingdom. The system has been applied (sometimes with significant variati ...

certificate in

history History (derived ) is the systematic study and the documentation of the human activity. The time period of event before the History of writing#Inventions of writing, invention of writing systems is considered prehistory. "History" is an umbr ...

. At postgraduate level, he studied international relations at Wolfson College,

Cambridge Cambridge ( ) is a university city and the county town in Cambridgeshire, England. It is located on the River Cam approximately north of London. As of the 2021 United Kingdom census, the population of Cambridge was 145,700. Cambridge bec ...

, graduating with master's degree in 1987, and

Nigerian history The history of Nigeria can be traced to the earliest inhabitants whose remains date from at least 13,000 BC through early civilizations such as the Nok culture which began around 1500 BC. Numerous ancient African civilizations settled in the reg ...

at the

University of Oxford , mottoeng = The Lord is my light , established = , endowment = £6.1 billion (including colleges) (2019) , budget = £2.145 billion (2019–20) , chancellor ...

, graduating with a doctorate in 1991. The Bauchi State Government offered him a scholarship to study at both the

University of Cambridge , mottoeng = Literal: From here, light and sacred draughts. Non literal: From this place, we gain enlightenment and precious knowledge. , established = , other_name = The Chancellor, Masters and Schola ...

and the University of Oxford. He went on to become a three-time recipient of the

Overseas Research Scholarship The Overseas Research Students Awards Scheme (also known as Overseas Research Scholarships, ORS) is an international postgraduate award for selected foreign country nationals to undertake research at higher-education institutions (HEIs) in the Unite ...

, and also won the

Commonwealth Scholarship The Commonwealth Scholarship and Fellowship Plan (CSFP) is an international programme under which Commonwealth governments offer scholarships and fellowships to citizens of other Commonwealth countries. History The plan was originally proposed b ...

from the Association of Commonwealth Universities.

Career

Yakubu is a lecturer,

guerrilla warfare Guerrilla warfare is a form of irregular warfare in which small groups of combatants, such as paramilitary personnel, armed civilians, or Irregular military, irregulars, use military tactics including ambushes, sabotage, Raid (military), raids ...

expert, and Professor of

Political History Political history is the narrative and survey of political events, ideas, movements, organs of government, voters, parties and leaders. It is closely related to other fields of history, including diplomatic history, constitutional history, social ...

and International Studies at 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 t ...

. Prior to his appointment as Chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), Mahmood served as the executive secretary of the

Tertiary Education Trust Fund Tertiary Education Trust Fund, abbreviated as TETFUND, is a scheme established by the Federal Government of Nigeria in 2011 to disburse, manage, and monitor education tax to government-owned tertiary institutions in Nigeria. The TETFUND scheme ...

, being appointed to office in 2007 by then-President

Umaru Musa 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 ...

. During his tenure as secretary, a National Book Development Fund was established, supporting 102 journals of professional associations. Yakubu also served as Assistant Secretary of Finance and Administration at the 2014 National Conference. In 2013, he was awarded an honorary fellowship to the Nigerian Institute of Public Relations. On 7 January 2019, he released a new voting system for the 2019 general election.

Works

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References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Yakubu, Mahmood 1962 births Members of the Independent National Electoral Commission Living people People from Bauchi State Usmanu Danfodiyo University alumni Alumni of the University of Oxford Cambridge Commonwealth Trust Scholars Alumni of Wolfson College, Cambridge Nigerian Defence Academy people