Alhaji Sa'idu Barda is a Nigerian politician who was elected on the

National Republican Convention The National Republican Convention was a Nigerian political party established by the government of General Ibrahim Babangida and ultimately disbanded by the military regime of General Sani Abacha in 1993. Alignment The party was organized to cat ...

(NRC) platform as Governor of

Katsina State Katsina State ''(Hausa: Jihar Katsina) (Fula: Leydi Katsina 𞤤𞤫𞤴𞤣𞤭 𞤳𞤢𞥁𞤭𞤲𞤢)'' is a state in the northwestern geopolitical zone of Nigeria. Katsina State was created in 1987, when it split from Kaduna State. Today, K ...

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 o ...

, holding office between January 1992 and November 1993 during 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 ...

. He remained active in politics in the

Nigerian Fourth Republic The Fourth Republic is the current republican government of Nigeria. Since 1999, it has governed the country according to the fourth republican constitution. It was in many ways a revival of the Second Republic, which was in place between 1979 and ...

Katsina State governor

In the December 1991 elections for governor of Katsina State, Barda defeated

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 ...

, the

Social Democratic Party The name Social Democratic Party or Social Democrats has been used by many political parties in various countries around the world. Such parties are most commonly aligned to social democracy as their political ideology. Active parties For ...

(SDP) candidate. Yar'Adua later went on to be elected president in April 2007. Umaru's elder brother General

Shehu Yar'Adua Shehu Musa Yar'Adua (5 March 1943 – 8 December 1997) was a Nigerian military officer and politician who was the ''de facto'' vice president of Nigeria as Chief of Staff, Supreme Headquarters when Nigeria was under military rule from 1976 to 1 ...

, then a prominent politician with presidential ambitions, had failed to give his full backing to Umaru's bid. Barda was favored by the military president at the time, 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 ...

. Barda completed construction of a flour mill in Katsina, initiated in 1981, but later abandoned. In June 1993, Barda set up a committee on the Rehabilitation of Education "to look into the educational decadence in schools ... and proffer solutions." He also laid the foundation for the Othman Dan Fodio Institute, intended to be the first Islamic university in Nigeria but later abandoned. Barda supported Babangida's annulment of the 12 June 1993 election of

MKO Abiola Moshood Kashimawo Olawale Abiola , also known as M. K. O. Abiola (24 August 1937 – 7 July 1998) was a Nigerian businessman, publisher, and politician. He was the Aare Ona Kankafo XIV of Yorubaland and an aristocrat of the Egba clan. M.K.O ...

as president, saying "blood will flow on an unprecedented scale" if the annulment were to be reversed. The political struggles that followed the annulment led to the coup in which General

Sani Abacha Sani Abacha (20 September 1943 – 8 June 1998) was a Nigerian military officer and politician who ruled as the military head of state of Nigeria from 1993 until his death in 1998. He seized power on 17 November 1993 in the last successful c ...

took power in November 1993, when all elected governors were dismissed.

Later political career

Barda was active in politics in the Nigerian Fourth Republic, becoming leader of the

United Nigeria People's Party The United Nigeria People's Party was a political party in Nigeria formed and led by Chief Donald Etiebet during General Sani Abacha's military era. At the 12 April 2003 legislative elections the party won 2.8% of popular vote, 2 out of 360 seat ...

(UNPP). In January 2003, as chairman of the UNPP primary convention, Barda announced that Senator

Jim Ifeanyichukwu Nwobodo James Ifeanyichukwu Nwobodo (born 9 May 1940) is a Nigerian businessman and politician who was governor of Anambra State (1979–1983) during the Nigerian Second Republic and was Senator for Enugu East Senatorial District in Enugu State (1999� ...

would be the party's candidate in the April 2003 presidential elections. In May 2003, Barda was a member of the

Arewa Consultative Forum The Arewa Consultative Forum (ACF) is a political and cultural association of leaders in Northern Nigeria formed in 2000 which has considerable influence in the political scene. (Arewa means "Northern" in Hausa, the primary language of the region.) ...

, a group of Northern political leaders. In October 2009, Barda was at a meeting where former military ruler

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 ...

announced the formation of a new political alliance, the National Democratic Movement. In 2010, Barda was deputy chairman of the Arewa Consultative Forum.

References

Living people National Republican Convention politicians United Nigeria People's Party politicians Governors of Katsina State Year of birth missing (living people) {{Nigeria-politician-stub