Alhaji Attahiru Dalhatu Bafarawa

Founder of the Democratic People's Party (DPP)

Date of Birth: 04/10/1954

Career: Founder, United Nigeria Congress Party (UNCP), 1997; Founder, All Nigeria Peoples Party (ANPP), 1998; Governor of Sokoto State, 1999-2007; Founder, Democratic People's Party (DPP), 2006; DPP presidential candidate, 2007 elections.

Commentary: A former local government councillor in charge of education, Attahiru Bafarawa's career started comparatively slowly with an unsuccessful run for the House of Representatives in 1979. His election as Governor of Sokoto State was on the platform of the ANPP.

Bafarawa is best known for introducing Sharia courts to Sokoto State and for the unaccountable depletion of his government accounts.  He was arrested in 2008 on money laundering and corruption charges. A panel in Sokoto indicted him in October 2009 and ordered that he and his aides return a missing 2.9 billion naira (US$19.3million).