Karidjo Mahamadou

Who is Karidjo Mahamadou?

Karidjo Mahamadou is a Nigerien politician. A leading member of the Nigerien Party for Democracy and Socialism, he has served in the government of Niger as Minister of National Defense since April 2011.

A teacher by profession, Mahamadou was a founding member of the PNDS; when the party held its Constitutive General Assembly on 23–24 December 1990, he was designated as First Deputy Secretary for Organization. He was elected to the National Assembly of Niger as a PNDS candidate in the February 1993 parliamentary election. In the period that followed, he served for a time as Prefect of Maradi.

At the Fourth Ordinary Congress of the PNDS, held on 4–5 September 2004, Mahamadou was elected as its Fourth Deputy Secretary-General. He retained that post at the Fifth Ordinary Congress, held on 18 July 2009.

After PNDS President Mahamadou Issoufou won the January–March 2011 presidential election and took office as President of Niger, Karidjo Mahamadou was appointed to the government as Minister of National Defense on 21 April 2011. He took over the ministry from Mamadou Ousseini at a handover ceremony on 26 April 2011.