Bashir Salihi Magashi (born 1 October 1949) is a retired

Nigerian army The Nigerian Army (NA) is the land force of the Nigerian Armed Forces. It is governed by the Nigerian Army Council (NAC). The Chief of Army Staff is the highest ranking military officer of the Nigerian Army. History Formation The Nigerian ...

major general and current

Defence Minister of Nigeria The Minister of Defence of Nigeria is the Federal Executive Council (Nigeria), Federal Executive Council cabinet of Nigeria, cabinet official who leads the Ministry of Defence (Nigeria), Defence Ministry of Nigeria. The Defence Minister's main res ...

. He was appointed Governor of

Sokoto State Sokoto State (Hausa: Jihar Sokoto Fula: Leydi Sokoto 𞤤𞤫𞤴𞤣𞤭 𞤧𞤮𞥅𞤳𞤮𞥅𞤼𞤮𞥅) is one of the 36 states of Nigeria, located in the extreme northwest of the country on the national border with the Niger, Republic o ...

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

Ibrahim Babangida Ibrahim Badamasi Babangida (born 17 August, 1941) is a retired Nigerian Army general and politician. He served as military president of Nigeria from 1985 until his resignation in 1993. He rose through the ranks to serve from 1984 to 1985 as Ch ...

. He was appointed Nigeria's Minister of Defence by President Muhammadu Buhari on 21 August 2019.

Early life

He was admitted to the

Nigerian Defence Academy The Nigerian Defence Academy (NDA) is a military university based in Kaduna, Nigeria that trains officer cadets for commissioning into one of the three services of the Nigerian Armed Forces: the Army, the Navy, and the Air Force. The duration of t ...

in 1968 and commissioned into the

Nigerian Army The Nigerian Army (NA) is the land force of the Nigerian Armed Forces. It is governed by the Nigerian Army Council (NAC). The Chief of Army Staff is the highest ranking military officer of the Nigerian Army. History Formation The Nigerian ...

in 1971 as a member of the 5th Regular Combatant Course. He also attended the

Ahmadu Bello University Ahmadu Bello University Zaria is a federal government research university in Zaria, Kaduna State, Nigeria. ABU was founded on 4 October 1962, as the pioneer university in Northern Nigeria. It was founded and named after the Sardauna of Sokoto, Al ...

Zaria Zaria is a metropolitan city in Nigeria which at the present time lies within four (4) local government areas in Kaduna state; it happens to be the capital city to the Zazzau Emirate Council, and one of the original seven Hausa city-states ...

, where he obtained an advanced diploma in public administration, LLB Honors and a call to the

Nigerian Nigerians or the Nigerian people are citizens of Nigeria or people with ancestry from Nigeria. The name Nigeria was taken from the Niger River running through the country. This name was allegedly coined in the late 19th century by British jour ...

Bar with a BL Hons in 1984. He started his career as a platoon commander and later became company commander at the historic and elite 6 infantry Battalion (Bn) of the Nigerian Army. He was later deployed as adjutant 1st Guards Battalion Bn and later commander of The 4 Guards battalion in Epe

Lagos Lagos (Nigerian English: ; ) is the largest city in Nigeria and the List of cities in Africa by population, second most populous city in Africa, with a population of 15.4 million as of 2015 within the city proper. Lagos was the national ca ...

; He was also commander, 93 Mechanized Bn and commander, 192 Mechanized Bn. He also served as deputy military secretary (DMS 2) 1984-1985 and (DMS 1) 1985–1987 at the

Army An army (from Old French ''armee'', itself derived from the Latin verb ''armāre'', meaning "to arm", and related to the Latin noun ''arma'', meaning "arms" or "weapons"), ground force or land force is a fighting force that fights primarily on ...

Headquarters (AHQ MS A), Cadets Brigade commander in Nigerian Defence Academy 1988-1990 and as the commander, 7 Mechanized Infantry Brigade in Sokoto in 1990. The General was later appointed as commander of the 15 Brigade of the ECOWAS Monitoring Group (ECOMOG) mission in

Liberia Liberia (), officially the Republic of Liberia, is a country on the West African coast. It is bordered by Sierra Leone to Liberia–Sierra Leone border, its northwest, Guinea to its north, Ivory Coast to its east, and the Atlantic Ocean ...

in 1992 before commanding the Nigerian Contingent Force in 1993. He served as commander of the Guards Brigade in

Abuja Abuja () is the capital and eighth most populous city of Nigeria. Situated at the centre of the country within the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), it is a planned city built mainly in the 1980s based on a master plan by International Plann ...

from 1993 to 1996. General Magashi subsequently rose to become general officer commanding of the 2nd Division Ibadan and later proceeded to the Lagos Garrison Command as command. He finally retired from the Nigerian Army as commandant,

Kaduna from 1998 to 1999 as his last official engagement as a

Military A military, also known collectively as armed forces, is a heavily armed, highly organized force primarily intended for warfare. It is typically authorized and maintained by a sovereign state, with its members identifiable by their distinct ...

Officer. He was a member of the Provisional Ruling Council from 1996 to 1999, a member of the Association of Humanitarian Lawyers and equally an

honorable ''The Honourable'' (British English) or ''The Honorable'' (American English; see spelling differences) (abbreviation: ''Hon.'', ''Hon'ble'', or variations) is an honorific style that is used as a prefix before the names or titles of certain ...

member of the Nigerian Red Cross Society. He has attended various leadership and management courses both home and abroad. He is a graduate of the International Institute of

Humanitarian Humanitarianism is an active belief in the value of human life, whereby humans practice benevolent treatment and provide assistance to other humans to reduce suffering and improve the conditions of humanity for moral, altruistic, and emotional ...

Law in

Italy Italy ( it, Italia ), officially the Italian Republic, ) or the Republic of Italy, is a country in Southern Europe. It is located in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, and its territory largely coincides with the homonymous geographical re ...

and a Member of the Senior Executives Course 14 of the National Institute of Policy and Strategic Studies Kuru in Jos. He also had served as the military governor of

from August 1990 to January 1992. In the political sphere, he was in 2002 the legal adviser to the ALL

Nigerian Peoples Party The Nigerian Peoples Party (NPP) was one of the major political parties that contested elections in the Nigerian Second Republic. The party was made up of three major groups: the Lagos Progressives, Club 19, and the Nigerian Council of Understanding ...

ANPP and in 2007, the

Kano State Kano State (Hausa: ''Jihar Kano''جىِهَر كَنوُ) (Fula: Leydi Kano 𞤤𞤫𞤴𞤣𞤭 𞤳𞤢𞤲𞤮𞥅 ) is one of the 36 states of Nigeria, located in the northern region of the country. According to the national census done in ...

governorship candidate of the Democratic People's Party (DPP). He later became the national chairman of the party before finally retiring from politics in 2014.

Personal life

He is married with children and enjoys reading, football and athletics. He also occasionally plays golf. He is a recipient of the Forces Service Star (FSS), Meritorious Service Star (MSS) and The Distinguished Service Star (DSS). His decorations also include the ECOMOG MEDAL and Silver Jubilee Medal. He has also received distinguished National awards and titles including Commander Order of the Niger (CON) and the prestigious Commander of the Federal Republic (CFR).

Career

During the intrigues leading to General

Sani Abacha Sani Abacha (20 September 1943 – 8 June 1998) was a Nigerian military officer and politician who ruled as the military head of state of Nigeria from 1993 until his death in 1998. He seized power on 17 November 1993 in the last successful c ...

'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

Caucus that reviewed the military and the political situation resulting from annulment of 12 June 1993 Shortly after democracy was restored in May 1999, the government announced the compulsory retirement of all armed forces officers who 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 The All Nigeria Peoples Party (abbr. ANPP) was a political party in Nigeria. Under the leadership of Late Chief Edwin Ume-Ezeoke who was its vice presidential candidate to General Muhammadu Buhari in the 2007 presidential elections. The party w ...

ANPP. In April 2007 he was

governorship candidate of the Democratic People's Party(DPP). He is currently the Nigeria's Minister of Defence. He was appointed by President Muhammadu Buhari on 21 August 2019.

Allegations

An investigation by Nigerian-based Newspaper –

Premium Times ''Premium Times'' is a Nigerian online newspaper based in Abuja in the Federal Capital Territory. It was launched in 2011. The online medium is notable for investigative journalism and Reports among other fields. Awards and nominations In 2013 ...

, reported that Magashi as army officer was engaged in illegal oil crude oil allocation and funds from trade in tune of $550,000 at Jersey UK, branch of Bank PNP Paribus.

Award

In October 2022, a Nigerian national honour of

Commander of the Order of the Federal Republic The Order of the Federal Republic (OFR) is one of two orders of merit, established by the Federal Republic of Nigeria in 1963. It is senior to the Order of the Niger. The highest honours where the Grand Commander in the Order of the Federal R ...

(CFR) was conferred on him by President

Muhammadu Buhari Muhammadu Buhari (born 17 December 1942) is a Nigerian politician and current president of Nigeria since 2015. Buhari is a retired Nigerian Army major general who served as the country's military head of state from 31 December 1983 to 27 Au ...

References