Alhaji (Dr) (Brig. Gen) Yahaya Abubakar Rtd CFR hails from one of the ruling houses of Bida Emirate (Usman Zaki), Niger State. He attended Government College, Sokoto and later Commercial College, Kano (1967–1971), then enrolled in to the Nigerian Defence Academy, Kaduna (1973–1975) in preparation for joining the Nigerian Army.
Before his appointment as the Etsu Nupe he was the Kusodu Nupe, last military posting was to the Defence Headquarters Abuja, where he was a director of foreign operations, before retiring as a Brigadier General in September 2003.
Yahaya Abubakar Kusodu Nupe was appointed the 13th Etsu Nupe on 11 September 2003, the ruler of all the Nupe speaking people in the world (Etsu Nupe: The King of Nupe) in succession to his late uncle Alhaji Umar Sanda Ndayako. By virtue of this title he is the Chairman of the Niger State Council of Traditional Rulers.
Following a scandal when it was found that a Nupe man, Alhaji Muhammadu Bello Masaba, had married 86 wives, the Etsu Nupe set up a five-member committee of Islamic scholars to handle the issue. In September 2008 it was reported that Masaba has agreed to divorce all but four of the wives.

​