Yar'Adua wa lati ilu Katsina latiidilelati idile oba a titled royal family. His father,Baba Musa Yar'Adua, wasje ateacheroluko,won whoje lateroye becameMinisita thefun Ministerọrọ forEko LagosAffairs fromlati 1957 tosi 1966 duringnigba Nigeria'sNaiijiria FirstOrilẹ Republic-ede andAkọkọ heldwon theje chieftaincy title ofoye Tafidan Katsina beforeni heilu wasKatsina appointed to the title ofati Mutawallin Katsina (''keeper of the treasury''). Baba to bi baba Yar'Adua's grandfather, Malam Umaru,was also theje Mutawalli, andaburo hisyoungere brother Umaru Yar'Adua, whoje laterolori becameede theti PresidentNaiijiria ofNigeria fromlati 2007 to 2010, held the title aswell. His paternal grandmother, Malama Binta, a Fulani from the Sullubawa Clan was a princess of Katsina Emirate and a sister of Emir Muhammadu Dikko.
Yar'Adua ka ile-ẹkọ ni Sẹkọndiri Katsina Middle School ati Katsina Provincial School (ti je Government College, Katsina) owun ati Muhammadu Buhari jo losi ọmo ile -iwe naa.
Yar'Adua attended Katsina Middle School and then Katsina Provincial School (now Government College, Katsina) for his secondary education; at the provincial school, where he was classmates with current Nigerian president Muhammadu Buhari. At the urging of his father and his father's friend, defence minister Muhammadu Ribadu, Yar'Adua took the entrance exam of the Nigerian Military Training College. He passed and was enlisted into the Nigerian Army in 1962 as part of the course 5 intake of the Nigerian military training school. Yar'Adua was selected for further training at the Royal Military Academy Sandhurst. He was turbaned as the Tafidan Katsina by the Emir of Katsina Muhammadu Kabir Usman.
