The lawmaker who once represented Nigeria’s second largest constituency is now one of the most consequential figures in Tinubu’s legislative agenda.
Every correspondence President Bola Tinubu sends to the Nigerian Senate passes through one man’s hands. So does every nominee awaiting confirmation. That man is Basheer Garba Mohammed — and most people in the chamber simply call him Lado.
Appointed Tinubu’s Special Adviser on Senate Matters in July 2024, the 59-year-old Kano-born politician, businessman and philanthropist has become the president’s chief legislative operator in the upper chamber, managing the flow of executive business with a discretion that belies his influence.
His social media feed faithfully documents these nominees’ courtesy visits to his office in the Senate Complex, where he guides them through the confirmation process. Widely respected across party lines, Mohammed has earned praise for his deft handling of federal executive-legislative relations.
He is no stranger to the red chamber. Between 2011 and 2015, he represented Kano Central Senatorial Zone – Nigeria’s second largest, spanning 15 local government areas – in the 7th National Assembly. His tenure left a lasting physical imprint on the state, including Gadan Lado (“Lado’s Bridge”), a flyover in Kano’s capital built through his influence and commissioned by President Goodluck Jonathan in 2015.
Mohammed lost his 2015 re-election bid to Rabiu Musa Kwankwaso, then the outgoing Governor of Kano State. A subsequent attempt to return to the Senate in 2019 ended when he withdrew from the race in September 2018, citing respect for Governor Abdullahi Umar Ganduje, who backed a rival candidate.
In August 2019, President Muhammadu Buhari appointed him National Commissioner at the National Commission for Refugees, Migrants and Internally Displaced Persons (NCRMI). He later served as Director General of the National Agency for the Prohibition of Trafficking in Persons (NAPTIP) from May to September 2021.
Mohammed returned to the corridors of power in July 2024 as President Tinubu’s Special Adviser on Senate Matters. He is the founder of the Ladon Alheri Foundation and a recipient of the National Honour of Commander of the Order of the Niger (CON).
He turns 60 on October 16, 2026.
Check him out on X – Senator Basheer Lado
