Abba Musa Rimi

Who is Abba Musa Rimi?

Abba Musa Rimi is a Nigerian politician who was elected Deputy Governor of Kaduna State, Nigeria in October 1979 during the Nigerian Second Republic, becoming acting Governor when the Governor Abdulkadir Balarabe Musa was impeached on 23 June 1981. He was elected on the platform of the People's Redemption Party.

In February 1982 Pope John Paul II visited Kaduna. Although squabbling Moslem religious leaders failed to show up, while at the airport the Pope read an address to Rimi and other government officials urging cooperation and unity among Christians and Moslems before flying on to Lagos. In August 1982 Rimi was forced to appeal to the Jama'atul Nasril Islam to find a way to end violent clashes between the Izala and Darika Moslem groups. Rimi officially opened IBBI Nigeria, now a leading brewery in Northern Nigeria, on 27 March 1982.

After General Mohammadu Buhari seized power in a coup on 31 December 1983, he arrested most of the former governors. On 28 March 1985 a Special Military Tribunal sentenced Rimi to 21 years in jail for corruptly enriching 96 legslators of the State House of Assembly by N500,000. Rimi said he had given the money to the legislator "for keeping the law and order in their constituencies".