Sa'adu Abubakar


Muhammadu Sa'ad Abubakar IV is the 20th Sultan of Sokoto. As Sultan of Sokoto, he is considered the spiritual leader of Nigeria's one hundred million Muslims, roughly fifty percent of the nation's population.
Abubakar is the fifth heir to the two century-old throne founded by his ancestor, Sheikh Usman Dan Fodio leader of the Maliki school of Islam and the Qadiri branch of Sufism.

Early life

Family

Sa'adu Abubakar was born on August 24 1956 in Sokoto, the youngest son of the 17th Sultan, Siddiq Abubakar III, who held the Sultanate for over fifty years.

Education

He attended the prestigious Barewa College in Zaria and proceeded to the Nigerian Defence Academy in 1975 where he was a member of the 18th Regular Course.

Military career

Abubakar was commissioned a Second Lieutenant in 1977 and served in the elite Armoured Corps. He headed a presidential security unit of the Armoured Corps that guarded then military ruler General Ibrahim Babangida in the late 1980s. Abubakar also commanded a battalion of African peacekeepers in Chad during the early 1980s as part of the Organisation of African Unity's force and was military liaison officer for the Economic Community of West African States in the mid 1990s.
He was appointed Commanding Officer 241 Recce Battalion, Kaduna in 1993. From 1995 to 1999, he was ECOWAS military liaison officer and commanding officer, 231 Tank Battalion in Sierra Leone from 1999 to 2000. From 2003 to 2006, he served as Defence Attaché to Pakistan.

Sultan of Sokoto

Accession

On 2 November 2006, Abubakar ascended the throne following the death of his brother, Muhammadu Maccido, who died on ADC Airlines Flight 53.

Titles

As the Sultan of Sokoto, Abubakar is the leader of the Qadiriyya sufi order, which is the most important Muslim position in Nigeria and senior to the Emir of Kano, the leader of the most populous Tijaniyya sufi order. He is also the head of Jama'atu Nasril Islam, and president-general of the Nigeria Supreme Council for Islamic Affairs.

Titles, styles and honours

Titles and styles