Yahaya Bello was born June 18, 1975 in  Agassa, Okene Kogi State, the youngest of six children. He attended Local Government Education Authority (Nigeria) (LGEA) Primary School, Agassa in Okene LGA. He attended high school at Agassa Community Secondary School, Anyava, Agassa-Okene and obtained his Junior Secondary School Certificate Examination (JSSCE) and Senior Secondary Certificate Examination (SSCE) certificates from Government Secondary School, Suleja-Niger State. He got a Bachelor’s degree in Accounting and a Master’s degree in Business Administration from Ahmadu Bello University (ABU) in 1999 and 2004 respectively. He became a Chartered Fellow of the Association of National Accountants of Nigeria (ANAN) at Jos in 2004. He spent his NYSC year at the Revenue Mobilization Allocation and Fiscal Commission (RMAFC) in 2002 and was retained. On December 6, 2015, Yahaya Bello was declared winner of the Kogi State gubernatorial elections, after replacing former APC candidate, Abubakar Audu, who died on November, 22, when the election was declared inconclusive. He was sworn in on January 27, 2016 as the governor of Kogi state