An haifi Yahaya Abdulkarim ne a ranar 21 ga watan Agustan shekarar 1944 a garin Talata Mafara jihar Zamfara. Ya shiga aikin farar hula na Jihar Arewa maso Yamma a matsayin malami, kuma ya rike mukamai daban-daban kafin ya yi ritaya a shekarar 1989 a matsayin Darakta-Janar a Ma’aikatar Kasafi da Tsare Tattalin Arziki ta Jihar Sakoto. GWAMNAN JIHAR SOKOTO An zabi Yahaya Abdulkarim a matsayin gwamnan jihar Sokoto ta Najeriya a watan Janairun 1992, A jam'iyyar National Republican Convention (NRC).tsakanin watan Janairun 1992 zuwa Nuwamba 1993, a lokacin yunkurin Janar Ibrahim Babangida zuwa ga mulkin dimokradiyya. Bayan komawar dimokradiyya a 1999, ya zama mai mulki a jam'iyyar PDP reshen jihar Zamfara, kuma ya yi aiki na wani lokaci a majalisar ministocin shugaban kasa Olusegun Obasanjo. A watan Nuwambar 1993 ne gwamnatin mulkin soja ta Janar Sani Abacha ta tilasta masa yin murabus. A shekarar 1992 Yahaya Abdulkarim ya rattaba hannu a kan kudirin kafa Makarantar Kimiyya da Fasaha ta Talata Mafara, daga baya aka canza mata suna Abdu Gusau Polytechnic.