Dangiwa Umar Colonel ( retired ) Abubakar Dangiwa Umar ( born 1949 ) was governor of Kaduna state in Nigeria from August 1985 to June 1988 during the military regime of General Ibrahim Babangida . After retiring from the army in 1993 , he became a social critic and the founder of Movement for Unity and Progress , a political party . Birth and education . Umar was born on 21 September 1949 in Birnin Kebbi , Kebbi State . His father was a school teacher and administrator with the traditional title of Wazirin Gwandu who became a member of the House of Representatives in Lagos ( 1954 - 1964 ) and Commissioner for Works in the North - Western State ( 1968 - 1975 ) . He was educated at Government College , Sokoto ( 1964 - 1968 ) , Nigeria Defence Academy , Kaduna , ( 1967 - 1972 ) , Nigeria Army Armored School , Ibadan , ( 1972 ) , US Army Administration School , Fort Benjamin Harrison , Indiana , USA ( 1976 ) , Royal Armour School , Kentucky , USA ( 1977 - 1978 ) , Command and Staff College , Jaji ( 1978 - 1979 and 1982 - 1983 ) , Bayero University , Kano ( 1979 - 1981 ) , Harvard University , USA ( 1988 - 1989 ) . Military career . Umar joined the Nigerian Army in 1967 and was commissioned as Second Lieutenant in March 1972 . He held various positions , including ADC to Major General Hassan Usman Katsina , Deputy Chief of Staff , Supreme Headquarters . Umar was appointed General Staff Officer in the Department of Armour , Army Headquarters . At the time of the coup of 27 August 1985 in which General Ibrahim Babangida assumed power he was a Major and Chairman of the Federal Housing Authority ( 1984 - 1985 ) . He supported the coup , and after it succeeded he was appointed Governor of Kaduna State . Later he was promoted to Lt . Colonel . Umar was Military Governor of Kaduna State from September 1985 to June 1988 , during a period when funding was scarce . He had to deal with a serious religious crisis within the state in 1987 , becoming unpopular with all sides of the dispute . He said " If you win a religious war , you cannot win a religious peace [ . . . ] Since the killing started how many Christians have been converted to Islam ? How many Muslims have been converted to Christianity ? It is an exercise in futility " . In 1993 he was Colonel and Commander of the Armoured Corps Center and School . He was opposed to the annulment of the 12 June 1993 presidential election , and started looking for support within the army for installing the elected president M . K . O . Abiola . In October he was detained on suspicion of conspiracy , but was not charged . After being released he resigned his commission . Later career . After retirement , Umar became Chairman and Chief Executive , Work and Worship ( Gas Company ) Nigeria Limited , Kaduna . Umar was a vocal critic of the Abacha regime , and joined the G - 18 group of politicians that publicly opposed Abacha ' s plan to become president . During the Nigerian Fourth Republic he was outspoken on many issues . In June 2000 he said the concept of a monolithic Northern region was obsolete and unnecessary . He warned defeated candidates in the 2003 elections to exercise restraint and follow the law in appealing the results . In March 2004 he wrote a letter to President Olusegun Obasanjo in which he accused him of being an accomplice in the annulment of the 12 June 1993 Presidential election . In June 2004 he said that the government ' s unpopular economic policies were creating social unrest . In May 2005 he spoke out against the forced retirement of a deputy governor of Central Bank of Nigeria and accused the government of insincerity in its fight against corruption . He strongly opposed proposals to let Obasanjo run for a third term . In January 2008 he supported the controversial removal of Nuhu Ribadu as Chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission on the basis that Ribadu was insufficiently experienced , and had carried out the directions of President Olusegun Obasanjo without question . In August 2009 he accused President Umaru Yar ' Adua of nepotism in his appointments . In December 2009 he called on the ailing President to resign .