He was appointed Minister of Agriculture on 6 April 2010, when acting president Goodluck Jonathan announced his new cabinet.
He graduated in the same year with Abdullahi Aliyu Sumaila a close friend of his, and he earned an MBA from Syracuse University in the US in 1977.
[2] Abdullah spent most of his working career at ABU in the human resources and management development area, and in 1990 was awarded a PhD by the university.
Late Gen. Sani Abacha appointed Sheikh Abdullah into the vision 2010 committee and also made him serve as a federal commissioner in Revenue Mobilization, Allocation and Fiscal Commission.
[3] He was appointed chairperson of the African Management Development Institutes' Network in Pretoria, South Africa.