Amirul Mumineen Sultan Muhammadu Sa'ad Abubakar III (born August 24, 1956, in Sokoto), is the 20th Sultan of Sokoto, the titular ruler of Sokoto in northern Nigeria. He is the head of Jama'atu Nasril Islam (Society for the Support of Islam – JNI), and president-general of the Nigerian National Supreme Council for Islamic Affairs (NSCIA). As Sultan of Sokoto, Sa'ad Abubakar is considered the spiritual leader of Nigeria's 70million Muslims, roughly fifty per cent of the nation's population. He succeeded his brother, Muhammadu Maccido, who died on October 29,2006, on ADC Airlines Flight 53. The flight crashed shortly after takeoff from Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport and had been destined for Sokoto. Abubakar is a younger son of the seventeenth Sultan, Siddiq Abu Bakar dan Usuman, who held the Sultanate for over fifty years.
Abubakar is the fifth heir to the two century-old throne founded by his ancestor, Sheikh Usman Dan Fodio (1754-1817) leader of the Maliki school of Islam and the Qadiri branch of Sufism. He attended the prestigious Barewa College, Zaria , and proceeded to the Nigerian Defence Academy in 1975 where he was a member of the 18th Regular Course. 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 (ECOWAS), in the mid 1990s.
He was appointed commanding officer 241 Recce Battalion, Kaduna, in 1993. From 1995 to 1999, Abubakar was ECOWAS military liaison officer and commanding officer, 231 Tank Battalion (ECOMOG Operations) in Sierra Leone from 1999 to 2000. Between 2003 and 2006, he served as defence attaché to Pakistan (also accredited for Iraq, Saudi Arabia, and Afghanistan). Upon his elder brother, Sultan Maccido's death, he was recalled to take office as the 20th Sultan of Sokoto and retired as a Brigadier General.
As the Sultan of Sokoto, Abubakar is the leader of the Qadiriyya sufi order, historically the most important Muslim position in Nigeria and senior to the Emir of Kano, the leader of the less populous Tijaniyya sufi order. In 2015, Amirul Mumineen Sultan Muhammadu Sa'ad Abubakar IV, was listed among the 10 recipients of the maiden edition of the Global Seal of Integrity (GSOI). An annual list which is compiled and authored by two young Nigerians; Emmanuel Josh Omeiza and Godspower Oshodin (under the Global Youth Coalition for Integrity), for promoting integrity among the people and consequently promoting the well-being of the universe.