Professor Mahmood Yakubu was born in Bauchi in May 1962. He attended Teachers’ College, Toro, Bauchi State from 1975 to 1980 and obtained the Grade II Teachers’ Certificate in 1980 top of his class. He undertook his undergraduate studies at the University of Sokoto (now Usmanu Danfodiyo University) from 1980 to 1985 and was Federal Government Merit Award scholar from 1983 to 1985. He graduated with a first class honours degree in History in 1985, winning the Waziri of Sokoto Prize for the Best Graduating Student and setting an enduring record as the first student from Northern Nigeria to graduate with a first class in history. Following his one year NYSC in 1985/86 as an academic assistant in the Department of History, University of Jos, he enrolled at the University of Cambridge, United Kingdom in 1986 with the Cambridge Commonwealth Trust Scholarship and obtained the Master of Philosophy (M.Phil) degree in International Relations in 1987.