Aminu Bello Masari

Aminu Bello Masari (born 29 May 1950) is a Nigerian politician who served as governor of Katsina State from 2015 to 2023.

He was the Commissioner for works, housing and transport in Katsina state from 1991 to 1993.

He was the speaker of the Nigerian House of Representatives between 2003 and 2007.

Masari hails from Masari village of Kafur local government area of Katsina State.

In recognition of his service to Nigeria, Aminu Masari received the National Award of honour of Commander of the Federal Republic (CFR) in 2005, by Chief Olusegun Obasanjo GCFR.

Masari contested the office of Katsina State Governor in the 2011 election under the platform of Congress for Progressive Change.

He lost the election to PDP's Ibrahim Shehu Shema.

In December 2014, he emerged as the governorship candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC) for the March 2015 elections.

Aminu Bello was declared winner of the 11 April 2015 Katsina State governorship election, defeating Musa Nashuni, and was sworn in on 29 May 2015.

Immediately after his inauguration, amid financial recession in the country, Masari accused his predecessor of literally stealing the state treasury after the 2015 elections and a few days before handing power to his new government.

This accusation, along with similar financial cases amounting to N11 billion, compelled the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) to invite and later charge Barrister Shema to court along with some of his cabinet members.

Governor Masari also dissolved local government chairmen, who were all from the ousted party.

The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) challenged the state in court for dissolving democratically elected local government chairmen.

Aminu Bello Masari was elected for a second term as Governor of Katsina in the 9 March 2019 Katsina State gubernatorial election under the platform of All Progressives Congress (APC), having polled 1,178,864 votes against PDP's Senator Garba Yakubu Lado’s 488,621 votes.