Colonel Bashir Salihi Magashi was appointed Governor of Sokoto State

Sokoto State

Sokoto State is located in the extreme northwest of Nigeria, near to the confluence of the Sokoto River and the Rima River. As of 2005 it has an estimated population of more than 4.2 million...

 in Nigeria

Nigeria

Nigeria , officially the Federal Republic of Nigeria, is a federal constitutional republic comprising 36 states and its Federal Capital Territory, Abuja. The country is located in West Africa and shares land borders with the Republic of Benin in the west, Chad and Cameroon in the east, and Niger in...

 from August 1990 to January 1992 during the military regime of General Ibrahim Babangida

Ibrahim Babangida

General Ibrahim Badamasi Babangida CFR DSS mni , popularly known as IBB, was a Nigerian Army officer and military ruler of Nigeria...

.

Magashi is a lawyer and a graduate of Ahmadu Bello University

Ahmadu Bello University

Ahmadu Bello University is the largest university in Nigeria and second largest in Africa, second only to Cairo University, Egypt. It is situated in Zaria. It was founded on October 4, 1962 as the University of Northern Nigeria....

 (ABU) Zaria. He holds a national award of CFR.

During the intrigues leading to General Sani Abacha

Sani Abacha

General Sani Abacha was a Nigerian military leader and politician. A Kanuri from Borno by tribe, he was born and brought up in Kano, Nigeria. He was the de facto President of Nigeria from 1993 to 1998....

's assumption of power in November 1993, Brig. General Bashir S Magashi was given command of the Brigade of Guards in September. He was a member of the Abacha Military Caucus that reviewed the military and the political situation resulting from annulment of the 12 June 2003, issuing a report title The Way Forward with recommendations for a partial military regime.

Shortly after democracy was restored in May 1999, the government announced the compulsory retirement of all armed forces officers who had had served for six or more months in military governments, including Major-General Bashir Magashi.

In 2002, he was legal advisor to the All Nigeria People's Party

All Nigeria People's Party

The All Nigeria Peoples Party is a conservative political party in Nigeria. At the last legislative elections , the party won 27.0% of the popular vote and 92 out of 360 seats in the House of Representatives and 27 out of 109 seats in the Senate...

 ANPP.

In April 2007 he was Kano State

Kano State

Kano State is a state located in North-Western Nigeria. Created on May 27, 1967 from part of the Northern Region, Kano state borders Katsina State to the north-west, Jigawa State to the north-east, Bauchi State to the south-east and Kaduna State to the south-west...

 governorship candidate of the Democratic People's Party

Democratic People's Party (Nigeria)

The Democratic People's Party is a Nigerian political party founded in 2006 by disgruntled members of the All Nigeria Peoples Party.In the 21 April 2007 presidential elections, the winner was Umaru Musa Yar'Adua of the People's Democratic Party with 24,638,063 votes...

(DPP).