Senator Tawar Umbi Wada was born on 27th January 1957 to the family of Baba Umbi Wada. He was brought up by responsible parents as a true Tangale son with strict principles and values. He had an outstanding sense of responsiveness, which has earned him accolades from his colleagues and the public space as a whole.

He started school at Kalmai Primary School in 1966, where he completed his Junior Primary School and later moved to Central Primary School Billiri and completed in 1970. He left home soon after completing Primary School to join his elder brother who worked with the Finance Department in Potiskum in the former North East Region, to train as a motorcycle mechanic.

While training as an apprentice, his elder brother was transferred to Maiduguri and Wada was left in the custody of an uncle who is from Kaltungo. He trained for one year and six months and decided to pay a visit to his elder brother in Maiduguri. He discovered the Police were recruiting and quickly joined in and was screened with other candidates. He trained at the Police College from September 1973 to February 1974 and on completion was posted to the defunct Benue/Plateau Province as a constable where he served in the “D” Division of Barkin Ladi Area for 4 years.

While still serving in the Nigeria Police Force and the hectic nature of the job, Wada studied at home for the ‘O’ level GCE. He resigned from the Police service to fulfil his educational appetite by taking the GCE in September 1977. “I did not go to secondary school, that is why my CV today you will not see any secondary school in it. I had no any teacher to teach me”. Call it self-education and you will not be wrong.

When the result came out, without hesitation, Wada proceeded to the Federal School of Art and Science Mubi in the then Gongola State for a remedial programme from 1977-78. It is from there he took the WASC exam and made the five credits. Same year, the Joint Admission and Matriculation Board (JAMB) Examination was introduced and he took it and passed. He was admitted into the University of Jos where he studies law from 1978-82. He successfully completed and went to the Law School from 1982-83, soon after, he was called to Bar. He had his mandatory Youth Service at the Federal Polytechnic Nekede, Imo State as a Lecturer. He later took an offer with the then Bauchi State Government as a Legal Counsel and worked for only five months. He resigned to take up a job with Federal Polytechnic Bauchi as a Lecturer from 1987-88.

Barr Wada started a Law firm in Bauchi in 1988, after leaving the service of the Polytechnic and moved his Chamber to Billiri, his hometown, and thus became the first law practitioner to open a Law firm in the whole of Tangale Waja Province. This feat was to open doors for many who toed his line.

As an altruistic son of Tangale, Barr Wada’s image soared, and by popular consensus he entered politics, beginning from scratch where he contested for a councillorship position repenting Billiri/Bare Ward in the defunct Tangale Waja Local Government. He won under the zero party. Later, when the defunct Billiri/Kaltungo LGA was created, he was appointed Supervisory Councilor of Agriculture and Natural Resources.

The council was later dissolved in 1989 to pave the way for the emergence of the two-party system under the Babangida administration, Wada contested for the Chairmanship seat under the National Republican Convention (NRC) and won. With the creation of more local governments in 1991, Billiri inclusive, Wada was retained as chairman of the party.

Like a rocket aiming at the peak, his quest for glory saw him contest for the Federal House of Representatives in 1992 which he won and was in the House up to November 1993 when the Abacha junta took over power and dismantled all democratic structures.

Barr Wada went back to the Federal Civil Service in 1994 and became an Assistant Director Personnel Management in the Ministry of Science and Technology. He stayed there until September 1996 when he was transferred to the Presidency as an Assistant Director, Special Duties. He became the first Attorney General and Commissioner of Justice of Gombe State in 1996 when the state was created. A position he held for 3 years distinguishing himself by setting up the needed legal structures for the smooth take off of the young Ministry in the state.

Abuja beckoned on him again and he went back to continue work in the Ministry of Police Affairs as an Assistant Director. While in Police Affairs, Wada’s profile got boosted with his appointment as the Chairman, of the Corporate Affairs Commission where he creditably combined the two offices.

In 1999 he contested for the seat of the Senate to represent Gombe South Senatorial District but lost to Senator Idris Abubakar. It was not the first time he had lost an election, as he had lost the Billiri Chairmanship primaries to Dr Bukar Mailafiya in 1991.

Wada’s defeat in 1999 did not discourage him, he re-contested for the same seat in 2003 and clinched it. As a senator of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, Wada held the position of the Chairman, the Senate Committee on Information.

His election into the senate made him the second Tangale man to go to the Senate, the first being Ambassador Adamu Ajuji Waziri. Senator Wada has also received honors and accolades in the cause of his works as a legal luminary and a politician of high standing. The Mai Tangle conferred him with the title of Dan Iyan Tangale as a result of his contribution to the development of the Tangale Maidom.

He sees the Tangale people as vibrant and industrious. As he puts it “a place where you find out that every family has at least a graduate underscores the kind of values placed on education”. Though disadvantaged by the minority status in the Nigerian nation he still believes Tangale has what it takes to be among the forces to be reckoned with in Nigeria. As a chieftain in the Arewa Consultative Forum, he played a statesmanship role in bridging the gaps and cementing the relationship between the North and the South.