ABDULFATAH AHMED – GOVERNOR-ELECT OF KWARA STATE

Alhaji Abdulfatah Ahmed, Governor-elect of Kwara State was born December 29, 1963 in Ifelodun Local Government Area of Kwara State. After his primary education, he attended Government College, Funtua in Katsina State (1973 -1978) and the School of Basic Studies of Kwara State College of Technology (now Kwara State Polytechnic), Ilorin (1978-1980). He later attended the University of Ilorin where he bagged a B.Sc (Hon) in Chemistry (1986) and a Master of Business Administration (1992).
Alhaji Ahmed had a stint as a lecturer in Organic Chemistry at the Federal College of Arts and Science, Sokoto between 1986 and 1990. He thereafter moved to the corporate sector as an Assistant Manager at District Saving and to Guaranty Trust Bank Plc (now GTBank Plc) for five years before moving to Societe General Bank as a Senior Manager/Group Head, Consumer Banking.
Alhaji Abdulfatah Ahmed later moved back to GTBank as Head of Institutional Banking Group for the Northen Region.
When the state’s outgoing governor, Dr Bukola Sarki, took office in 2003, Alhaji Ahmed was appointed pioneer Commissioner for Finance and Economic Development, a position he held until late 2009 when he was moved to the newly created Ministry of Planning and Economic Development as Commissioner.
During this period, he was also appointed Treasurer, Forum of Commissioners of Finance of Nigeria for six years. He also held so many positions at the state level such as chairmanship of the state’s flagship–Shonga Farms Holdings Ltd. Throughout his tenure, he ensured prudent fund management in the face of scarcity of inflow into government treasury and helped to smoothen operation of government business.
In view of the foregoing, it was no surprise that in the just-concluded April 2011 polls, he decided to run for governor on the platform of the ruling Peoples Democratic Party and won.