Alhaji Yahaya was born in 1907 in Ilorin,
Kwara State, the oldest son of Abdulkadir Popoola Ayinla-Agbe wealthy Ilorin trader and Salimotu Asabi. Among his contemporaries at Katsina College were
Ahmadu Bello, the
Sardauna of
Sokoto,
Aliyu Makama Bida,
Suleiman Barau and
Sir Kashim Ibrahim. A brilliant student and sportsman, Yahaya became Head Boy and football captain and was selected to give the welcome address to the then Governor of Nigeria, Sir
Hugh Clifford, during the official commissioning of the college in 1924. He taught at
Katsina College for two years and his students included Alhaji
Abubakar Tafawa Balewa who later became
prime minister, Sir
Ahmadu Bello, the
Sardauna of
Sokoto, Justice
Mohammed Bello who later became
Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of Nigeria, Justice Saidu Kawu, a former Chief Judge of
Kwara State and later a Supreme Court Judge, Justice
Mamman Nasir,
Ibrahim Coomassie, who later became the Inspector General of the
Nigerian Police, Alhaji
Ibrahim Dasuki who later became the 18th Sultan of the
Sokoto Caliphate as well as his son-in-law, Habba Habib of Borno, Shuaibu Abuja, the Sarkin Gobir of Kaligo, who later became the Emir of Gwandu, Alhaji Zulkarnaini Gambari and Alhaji Aliyu Abdulkadir aka Baba Agba, both of whom later became the 9th and 10th Emirs of Ilorin respectively. Yahaya went on to become Headmaster of Ilorin Middle School and a prominent community leader, famously settling several disputes both among prominent leaders of the community and with the
British colonial authorities for which he was awarded the
Coronation Medal of King
George VI in 1936. ==Political career==