Abba Kyari
Governor North Central State May 1967 ? July 1975

Abba Kyari was born in 1938 in Dewa current day Borno State. He attended Damasak Elementary School before proceeding to the Borno Middle School. He left Borno for Zaria to attend Barewa College graduating in 1959. That same year he enlisted in the Nigerian Army as an Officer Cadet and almost immediately was sent to Teshie in Ghana for the 12th Regular Officers Training. A month later he was sent off again to the Mons Officer Cadet School in Aldershot, England returning to Nigeria in 1960.

Based in Kaduna during the political turmoil that engulfed Nigeria after the coup in January 1966 Abba Kyari was instrumental in stepping in to save a number of South Easterners. Notable among them was Sam Ogbemudia, who was himself later appointed the military governor of Midwestern State.

In July 1967, following the division of Nigeria into 12 states, the Head of State, Yakubu Gowon, appointed him as Military Governor of North Central State, a state with an area of 27,108 sq. miles and a population of 4,098,297 in 1963.

During his tenure, the first development plan (1970-1974) was drawn up for the state and he commissioned the master-plan for Kaduna Metropolis.

He was instrumental in other major developments including the establishment of the Rural Development Bureau and the Staff Training Centre Kaduna, both in 1971, Kaduna Capital Development Board in 1972 (now KASUPDA) and Water Board, all of which still exist in some form to this day.

His government was noted as a period where there was a vast improvement in the quality of life of its citizens

Abba Kyari died on the 25th of November 2018.