Usman Jibrin

Usman Jibrin (1942 – 8 September 2011) was a Nigerian politician and military officer who served as the military governor of North-Central State (present-day Kaduna State) from July 1975 to 1977 during the military regime of General Murtala Mohammed.

Background

Jibrin was born in 1942 in Nasarawa local government of Nasarawa State. He attended Abuja Middle School and Government College Kaduna in the early 1960s. He started work at Radio Television, Kaduna. Jibrin joined the Nigerian Air Force in 1963, retiring in 1978. He received training in Canada as a pilot and an instructor, followed by training and conversion courses in Germany on jet fighters. He was also trained in the Soviet Union as a fighter pilot and instructor, and received staff training in the United Kingdom. In his maiden address on 30 July 1975, Murtala Mohammed said that Jibrin had been appointed military governor of North Central State of Kaduna, later renamed to Kaduna State.

Jibrin retired from his post as governor and from the air force due to disagreements with the Head of State, General Olusegun Obasanjo. The cause was the take-over by the Federal government of universities and other institutions, such as the Federal Radio Corporation of Nigeria, Kaduna, which Jibrin believed to be the property of the state.