Sakah Mahmud appointed Director, Institute of Advanced Military Studies 

A renowned Political Scientist, Prof. Sakah Mahmud, has been appointed as new Director, Institute of Advanced Military Studies, Kwara State University, Malete.

Mahmud, who succeeds Dr. Ademola Araoye, was appointed by the Vice-Chancellor, Prof. AbdulRasheed Na’Allah.

“Professor Sakah Mahmud is an exceptional scholar, who has taught at best universities around the world, and has authored many thought provoking books and scholarly articles that serve as primary materials to courses on globalization, African Studies, Strategic cultural studies and diversity and many more,” NaAllah remarked.

The new appointee is also the Deputy Vice-Chancellor (Administration) and Provost, College of Humanities, Management and Social Sciences.

Meanwhile, application is still open to the doctoral degree programme in Advanced Military Studies and interested applicants can apply on KWASU website at www.kwasu.edu.ng

Mahmud was born in Gorobani Ward of Serukperu (Okuta in Yoruba and Dutse in Hausa) in the then Borgu Division (now Baruten Local Government) on March 21, 1953.

He attended the Baptist Day School, Okuta (1960-1966) and the Government Secondary School, Ilorin (1967-1971) before proceeding to the School of Basic Studies, ABU Zaria (1972-1973).

Mahmud received the B.Sc. Social Science (with Specialization in Government) from Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria (1976); Graduate Certificate on the “Work of the United Nations,” Geneva, Switzerland (1978); M.A. International Studies, (1982); and Ph. D. (1992) in Comparative Politics and International Relations, University of Denver, Colorado, USA.

Mahmud has taught at the University of Colorado at Denver; the University of Denver; the Metropolitan State University of Denver and Transylvania University, Lexington, Kentucky, in the United States of America. He joined Kwara State University in 2009 as the pioneer Head of Department of Political Science (later renamed Department of Social Science and Global Studies, and Politics and Governance).

He was appointed the Academic Coordinator to the Vice-Chancellor and CEO in 2011, a position he held until his appointment as Deputy Vice-Chancellor (Administration), in 2017.

In 2014, he was appointed the second Provost of the College of Humanities, Management and Social Sciences; a position he still occupies to the present.

Mahmud has published widely in the areas of development, democratization, human rights and Muslim politics.

Some of his notable publications include: State, Class and Underdevelopment in Nigeria and Early Meiji Japan, London and New York: Macmillan and St. Martin’s Press. Can the Nigerian Democracy Succeed?

Other publications on human rights, democracy and development have appeared in referred journals such as Human Rights Quarterly, and Africa Today, African Studies Review, and a book chapter in the Choice Award-Winning book, Democracy and Religion: Free Exercise and Diverse Visions. He also contributed to an international book project, Borders of Islam: Huntington and His Critics, His latest book is Sharia and Shura: Contending Approaches to Muslim Politics in Nigeria and Senegal (2013).

Mahmud’s publications have been widely cited by other scholars worldwide.

And many of the publications used as course materials in such top universities as Columbia University, Pennsylvania University, University of California, San Diego, and the University of Toronto.

In his academic activities, Professor Mahmud has conducted field research in France, Senegal, South Africa and Turkey

Major academic honours and awards he received include: the National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH); Visiting Scholar, University of Chicago (2002), a full-year Rockefeller Foundation Fellowship for research on religious conflict and peace building at the Kroc Institute for International Peace Studies, University of Notre Dame, Indiana, USA (2003-2004); and the Outstanding Faculty of the Year Award Transylvania University, (2003). He was a keynote speaker at the African Students Annual Conference, Institute for Social Studies (ISS), at The Hague, The Netherlands (October, 2006).