Parents Shehu Shagari | Name Muktar Shagari | |
 | ||
Education Ahmadu Bello University | ||
Muktar shagari calls on nigerians to jonathan
Barrister Mukhtar Shehu Shagari, CFR (born 26 December 1956) was appointed Nigerian Minister of Water Resources in a June 2001 reshuffle of the cabinet of President Olusegun Obasanjo. He was later appointed President of the African Ministerial Council On Water (AMCOW). Shagari held office until January 2007 when he left to compete for Deputy Governor of Sokoto State. He was elected Deputy Governor of Sokoto State in April 2007, and after a legal challenge was reelected in May 2008.
Contents
Background
Shagari is the nephew of former President Shehu Shagari. He was born in the town of Shagari, Sokoto State in 1956. He attended Kanta College, Argungu until 1974, and the College of Arts and Science, now the University of Maiduguri (1974–1976). He attended Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria (1976–1979) and earned an LLB degree, and the Nigeria Law School (1979–1980), when he was called to the bar.
After national service in Port Harcourt, Rivers State he worked briefly in the magistrate court, then served as state counsel to the Ministry of Justice, Sokoto State. He was then appointed as Sokoto State Attorney General and Commissioner of Justice. Shagari later set up a private legal practice. During the Nigerian Second Republic, he was legal adviser to the National Party of Nigeria in Sokoto State. He was a member of the Sokoto State branch of the National Republican Convention in the Nigerian Third Republic, disbanded in November 1993 when General Sani Abacha came to power. In the lead-up to the return of democracy in 1999, he was legal advisor to the People's Democratic Party (PDP) in Sokoto State.
Deputy Governor of Sokoto State
Shagari was nominated by the People's Democratic Party (PDP) as its gubernatorial candidate for Sokoto State in the 2007 elections. He polled 2,701 votes while the two other contestants polled 447 and 431 votes. However, after Aliyu Magatakarda Wamakko, who had been nominated as candidate for the All Nigeria Peoples Party (ANPP), crossed over to the PDP before the election, the PDP ruled that Shagari should run for Deputy Governor in partnership with Wamakko. In April 2008, the Court of Appeal in Kaduna nullified the election of Wamakko and Shagari on the basis of irregularities in the registration process due to the last-minute changes. After a re-run of the election, Wamakko and Shagari were reinstated in May 2008.
In April 2010 there were reports that former President Olusegun Obasanjo was pushing to have Shagari appointed Vice-President to Acting President Goodluck Jonathan, who had taken over after the extended illness of President Umaru Yar'Adua. Other sources said that Shagari was Obasanjo's back-up choice after Adamu Bello of Adamawa State.
