Kano First Lady: Meet Hafsat Ganduje, A Professor Influential In Kano Political Scene

Professor Hafsat Abdullahi Umar Ganduje is an academic, a wife, a mother and one of the most influential figures in the Kano State political scene.

She was born in Hadejia Local Government Area in old Kano now Jigawa State, on December 28, 1958 (according to the public enlightenment research and documentation directorate for the government house, Abbas H Abbas in a statement released today to celebrate her birthday). This is against the widely speculated 1960 date on the internet.

Madam Hafsat attended Malam Madori Primary School, Shekara Boarding Primary School, and Women Teachers College in Kano State.

Abdullahi and Hafsat Umar Ganduje as a young couple

Shattering the stereotype that northern women are mostly uneducated, she completed a Bachelor of Science in Education at Bayero University in 1981, she furthered and earned a Masters degree in Psychology in 1992 and a Master in Business Administration in 2004. She subsequently bagged a PhD in Administration and Planning in 2015, all from Bayero University, Kano.

Hafsat, a teacher per career later gained promotion to become a principal. She lectured at the Faculty of Education of Bayero University, and was later promoted to Associate Professor in 2019 by Maryam Abacha American University in Niger State.

She became a fellow of the Nigerian Institute of Management in 2019. She was conferred the Great Matron Award by the Nigerian Association for Administration and Planning.

Hafsat Abdullahi Umar Ganduje, popularly called ‘Gwaggo’ is rumored to have a stong influence on how the state government is run.

Although her husband, the governor, has personally and sometimes through his aides denied her supposed influence on governance in the state, her influence as one of the most powerful in the Kano APC cannot be diminished.

Dr. Abdullahi and Professor Hafsat Abdullahi Umar Ganduje

When Hafsat Ganduje hinted in August 2021, that the Commissioner for Local Government,  Murtala Sule Garo could succeed her husband as governor of Kano State, the polity both within and outside the All Progressives Congress was heated for weeks.That was how much influence just a speech from her holds.

History would remember her as a woman who commanded respect and an orator at the same time. Hafsat Ganduje is known to move crowds with her speeches, this, complementing Governor Ganduje’s efforts.

It is easy to conclude that the governor  sometimes try to inclucate her speech pattern at events.

Hafsat Abdullahi Umar Ganduje at a political rally

It was gathered from anonymous sources that Hafsat Abdullahi Umar Ganduje told 'Politicsdigest' that she might contest for Senate in Jigawa North East Senatorial District, although there is no official confirmation to this statement.

Aside her career and political activities, Hafsat Ganduje is engaged in providing humanitarian assistance to women, youths and children.

Hafsat Abdullahi Umar Ganduje and a child in distress

Professor Hafsat Ganduje as the wife of the governor of Kano State has championed the course of empowering women, youths and particularly the less privileged in Kano in the last six and a half years.

The First Lady has been known to be at the forefront against drug abuse among youths in Kano. She has coordinated and facilitated several empowerment programmes in the 44 Local Government Areas across the state.