AbdulRahman AbdulRazaq the incumbent Governor of Kwara State is a Nigerian politician. He was previously the CEO of First Fuels Limited. He contested unsuccessfully for the governor of Kwara State in 1999, 2003, 2007, 2011 and 2015 respectively under the Congress for Progressive Changepolitical party but was successively defeated in 1999 by Mohammed Alabi Lawal, by Dr Abubakar Bukola Saraki in 2003 and 2007, and by Abdulfatah Ahmed in 2011 and 2015. However in 2019 he contested again under the ruling political party in Nigeria APC and emerged as the governor of Kwara State, after he won the 2019 governorship election in the state.
Early life
He was born in Ilorin West Local Government. AbdulRazaq is the son of Alh. A. G. F. AbdulRazaq SAN., the first northern lawyer in Nigeria. Abdulrazaq attended Capital School, Kaduna between 1966 and 1968; Bishop Smith Memorial School Ilorin between 1970 and 1971; and Government College Kaduna where he is said to have earned his West African School Certificate Examination in 1976.
Career
Entrepreneur
AbdulRazaq founded an indigenous oil and gas trading company in 1991 at the age of 31, NOPA Oil Services, later renamed First Fuels. The latter claimed to be the first indigenous company to export crude oil and petroleum products to the United States, Europe and Asia. From 1991, he is claimed to have been an end-user certificates consultant to various multinational oil companies and governments including Libya, Yemen, Turkey, Niger, Chad, Ghana, Sudan and Afghanistan from his operational base in Abidjan Cote D’Ivoire Abdulrahman Abdulrazaq, using an altered name Abdul Rahaman Abdul, indigenous oil and gas trading companies, NOPA Oil Services and First Fuels, is said to have lifted crude oil and petroleum products to the United States, Europe and Asia, while his brother Alimi Abdulrazaq was a senior official of Nigeria's National Petroleum Company NNPC. First Fuels was originally registered in the Isle of Man, a tax free offshore jurisdiction. There is no verifiable record or source of Abdulrazaq's activities or career between 1976 and 1991 As a businessman, Governor Abdulrahman Abdulrazaq used and continues to use a different name, ABDUL RAHAMAN ABDUL. Documents at Nigeria's Corporate Affairs Commission record that the initial name of his company, FIRST FUEL PETROCHEMICAL NIGERIA LIMITED changed name to: FIRST FUEL NIGERIA LIMITED on 5th of December, 1991 with RC NO: 165070 and REGISTERED ADDRESS 40, Raymond Njoku Road, Southwest Ikoyi, Lagos State, DATE OF INCORPORATION: 16th June, 1991 and a SHARE CAPITAL of Ten Thousand Naira, Only, while its ANNUAL RETURNS are paid up to 2015 as at 12th February, 2020. The CURRENT SHAREHOLDERS & SHARE ALLOTMENT of First Fuels Nigeria as at 12th February 2020 are ABDUL RAHAMAN ABDUL: 7,000 Ordinary shares; 40, Raymond Njoku Road, Southwest Ikoyi, Lagos State and AISHA ABDULRASAQ: 2,000 Ordinary shares; 171, Abdul Azeez Atta Road Ilorin, Kwara State Aisha Abdulrazaq is the younger sister of Governor Abdulrahman Abdulrazaq and a former first lady of Kwara State 1999-2003. Aishat Abdulrazaq also uses multiple different names and identities, as Ayisat Abdulrazaq Lawal, a former First Lady of Kwara State, and Aisha Razaq Lawal, as the third widow of a deceased former Kwara State Governor, Admiral Mohammed Alabi Lawal a polygamist who was married to three women.
Politics
AbdulRazaq joined politics in 1999 when Nigeria returned to democracy. In 2011, he unsuccessfully contested for the governorship election in Kwara State on the platform of Congress for Progressive Change and again contested unsuccessfully for Kwara Central Senatorial District on the platform of Peoples Democratic Party in both 2011 and 2015. He won the gubernatorial primary election of the All Progressive Congress for Kwara State in October 2018. Alhaji Abdulrahman Abdulrazaq was elected to the Office of the Governor of Kwara State at the 2019 governorship election held on March 9, 2019 and sworn in on May 29, 2019. On 7 July, 2020, Governor AbdulRahman AbdulRazaq lost his Chief of Staff, Aminu Logun. His death was announced by Olayinka Fafoluyi, Special Assistant.
Personal life
He is said to married to Olufolake Molawa Davies Abdulrazaq who is First Lady of Kwara State as his recognised spouse, together they have three sons, Farouq, Abdul-Aziz, and Abdul-Malik, educated at Millfield School, Street, Somerset, United Kingdom. He also has a daughter, Khairat, his eldest child from a previous relationship. There is no verifiable record or source of Abdulrazaq's activities, education, or personal life between 1976 and 1991.