Air Vice Marshal Hamza Abdullahi (born 2 March 1945) was Governor of Kano State

Kano State

Kano State is a state located in North-Western Nigeria. Created on May 27, 1967 from part of the Northern Region, Kano state borders Katsina State to the north-west, Jigawa State to the north-east, Bauchi State to the south-east and Kaduna State to the south-west...

 in Nigeria

Nigeria

Nigeria , officially the Federal Republic of Nigeria, is a federal constitutional republic comprising 36 states and its Federal Capital Territory, Abuja. The country is located in West Africa and shares land borders with the Republic of Benin in the west, Chad and Cameroon in the east, and Niger in...

 from January 1984 to August 1985 during the military regime of General Muhammadu Buhari

Muhammadu Buhari

Muhammadu Buhari was a military ruler of Nigeria and an unsuccessful candidate for president in the 2003, 2007 and 2011 presidential elections...

.
After General Ibrahim Babangida

Ibrahim Babangida

General Ibrahim Badamasi Babangida CFR DSS mni , popularly known as IBB, was a Nigerian Army officer and military ruler of Nigeria...

 took power, he was appointed Minister of Works and Housing, and later Minister of the Federal Capital Territory.

Abdullahi was born in Hadejia

Hadejia

Hadejia is a Hausa town in eastern Jigawa State, northern Nigeria. The population was approximately 47,400 . The people of Hadejia are largely Muslim, although some follow indigenous belief systems...

, Kano State. He attended the Nigeria Air Force Tactical Training Wing, Kaduna

Kaduna

Kaduna is the state capital of Kaduna State in north-central Nigeria. The city, located on the Kaduna River, is a trade center and a major transportation hub for the surrounding agricultural areas with its rail and road junction. The population of Kaduna is at 760,084 as of the 2006 Nigerian census...

 in 1964.
He completed the Aircraft Technical Officer’s Course in West Germany

West Germany

West Germany is the common English, but not official, name for the Federal Republic of Germany or FRG in the period between its creation in May 1949 to German reunification on 3 October 1990....

 (1964–1966), and studied at the Royal Military Training Centre in Chichester

Chichester

Chichester is a cathedral city in West Sussex, within the historic County of Sussex, South-East England. It has a long history as a settlement; its Roman past and its subsequent importance in Anglo-Saxon times are only its beginnings...

, England in 1974.
In July 1975, Lt. Colonel Abdullahi was Air Provost Marshall and assisted in the coup that removed General Yakubu Gowon

Yakubu Gowon

General Yakubu "Jack" Dan-Yumma Gowon was the head of state of Nigeria from 1966 to 1975. He took power after one military coup d'etat and was overthrown in another...

 from power, replacing him with General Murtala Mohammed

Murtala Mohammed

General Murtala Ramat Mohammed born was a military ruler of Nigeria from 1975 until his assassination in 1976.-Role during 1960s coups:...

.

Appointed Governor of Kano State in January 1984, Abdullahi announced in January 1985 that his government was revitalizing the Expanded Program on Immunization, targeting children and pregnant women at risk from preventable diseases.
As Minister of Federal Capital Territory from 1986 to 1989, Abdullahi oversaw the construction of Phase 1 of Abuja.
His goal was to have 75% of the ministries in Abuja by 1990, the target date for the official transfer of the capital from Lagos

Lagos

Lagos is a port and the most populous conurbation in Nigeria. With a population of 7,937,932, it is currently the third most populous city in Africa after Cairo and Kinshasa, and currently estimated to be the second fastest growing city in Africa...

.
He described the new city as "a symbol of our unity".
Abdullahi was promoted air vice-marshal in October 1988 and retired from the Nigerian Air Force two months later.