Born on the 22nd of June 1965 in the Tudunwada Local Government Area of Kano State, Mohammed Umar Abba bagged his first degree from Bayero University, Kano. And He did his one-year national service at the old Anambra State Police Command and later got enlisted into the Nigeria Police Force. Abba attended the Nigeria Police Academy, Kaduna State, where he was commissioned in 1992. Mohammed Umar Abba was seconded to the EFCC in January 2016 to head the Counterterrorism and General Investigations department at the Headquarters in Abuja. He was later appointed the Director of Operations of the Commission in 2017, a standpoint he held until 2020 when he took over from Ibrahim Magu as acting Chairman, a position he held till he returned to the Nigerian Police Force.