Yahaya Mohammed Inuwa is a Nigerian politician who contested the 2023 Gubernatorial Elections as the All Progressives Congress (APC) candidate in Gombe. They won with 343K votes (56.63%).

Biography

Muhammad Inuwa Yahaya (born 9 October 1961) is a Nigerian businessman and politician who has served as the governor of Gombe State since 2019. Muhammad Inuwa Yahaya was born on 9 October 1961 in Jekadefari, Gombe, Gombe State. His father, Alhaji Yahaya Umaru, was a famous businessman.

Yahaya attended the Central Primary School and the Government Science Secondary School in Gombe. He then studied at Ahmadu Bello University (ABU) Zaria, where he obtained a Bachelor of Science degree in Accounting in 1983.

Yahaya has worked in both the public and the private sector. He started his working career with the Bauchi State Investment and Property Development Company, where he was a principal accountant from 1984 to 1985. He was a managing director of A.Y.U Civil Engineering Company Ltd from 1993 to 1999.

In 2003, he was appointed as Commissioner for Finance and Economic Development by Governor Muhammed Danjuma Goje. Yahaya is a member of the following professional bodies: Association of Nation Accountants of Nigeria (ANAN), Nigeria Institute of Management (NIM), Chartered Institution of Taxation of Nigeria (ACITN).

Yahaya joined politics in 2003. In the governorship election in 2015, he was the flag bearer of the All Progressives Congress (APC) political party in Gombe State. On 1 October 2018, he won the Gombe State gubernatorial APC primary election with the highest votes, securing 859 votes against Mohammed Jibrin Barde’s 463 votes.

On 9 March 2019, Yahaya was declared governor-elect of Gombe State at the 2019 Gombe State gubernatorial election. He scored a total of 364,179 votes to defeat his closest rival, Sen. Usman Bayero Nafada of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), who polled 222,868 votes.

Governor Inuwa Yahaya of Gombe State won the Saturday’s governorship election for a second term in office. He polled 342,821 votes to defeat the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) candidate, Muhammad Jibiri Barde, who scored 233,131 votes. The result declared by the Returning Officer of INEC, Maimuna Waziri, showed an APC victory with a margin of 74,493 votes.

He is married to two wives and has seven children, all residing in Gombe State. His first son married in 2022.

Party Positions

Policy positions from the All Progressives Congress (APC) party manifesto.

Agriculture

Launches the Irrigate Nigeria Project as a public-private partnership to develop small-scale irrigation and water catchment systems using modern technology to boost agricultural productivity.

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Security & Defense

Will deploy modern aerial surveillance and advanced technology to monitor and deter intrusions into oil pipelines, power stations, and other critical national infrastructure in real time.

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Environment & Climate

Accelerates the environmental cleanup and re-establishment of fisheries and profitable aquacultural activities in the Niger-Delta region to counter violent extremism and poverty-driven disaffection.

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Economy & Trade

Will implement the Petroleum Industry Act (PIA) and additional favorable policies to attract investment in deep-water assets within 6 months, including encouraging signature bonus negotiations and royalty reliefs.

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Infrastructure

Creates regional industrial hubs in specific zones (North West, North East, South East, South South, South West, North Central) to focus on labor-intensive manufacturing, with tailored investments (e.g., textiles, dry ports, glass, pottery, solid minerals, regulated mining).

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Enterprise grant support

Work with the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) to simplify loan processes for commercial banks, mandate federally owned banks to provide low-cost loans to youth-led enterprises, and expand business incubation centers to support youth innovation.

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Energy

Will mandate gas metering equipment on all facilities where gas flaring occurs within 6 months and establish a special enforcement unit to monitor compliance with the Petroleum Industry Act (PIA) on gas flaring reduction, with non-compliance leading to financial penalties for affected communities.

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Governance & Reform

Reserve at least 3 cabinet positions for individuals under 40 and 6 more positions for members under the age of 40, and mandate that at least 20% of political appointments to Ministries/Dangomas (MDAs) be reserved for individuals under 40.

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Education

Raises the priority of addressing out-of-school children, establishes a task force to review and strengthen programs like school feeding, and aims to reduce disaffected youth recruitment by violent groups.

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Healthcare

Will establish a network of upgraded, equipped, and staffed general hospitals in every Local Government Area, tertiary facilities in each State, and world-class specialist hospitals in each geo-political zone to improve healthcare accessibility and quality.

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Technology & Digital

Supports the development of MSMEs through partnerships with fintech players to expand access to capital and business development services.

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Reliefs and scholarships

Commits to a conditional income support program requiring recipients to meet human capital goals (school attendance, healthcare, nutrition) in exchange for payments.

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