Rtd Major General Mukhtar was also a former military governor of Kaduna state and Katsina State, in the case of the latter he was the first administrator or governor.

He had a fairly prominent army career culminating with his appointment as the general officer commanding the first division, Nigerian army in Kaduna state, before that, he was the Chief of Staff of a peace keeping force in Liberia.

[1] The retired general was one of the few serving high-ranking officers in the middle of the 1990s who voiced concerns over the detention and trial of the former President Obasanjo and his former deputy Shehu Musa Yar'Adua.

[2] He is known as a principled and charismatic officer who earned the respect of President Obasanjo when he refused to budge to the demands of Sani Abacha, on the treatment of coups suspects in 1995.

[citation needed] From 23 January 2002, to 30 May 2003, he administrated the Embassy of Nigeria in Moscow and was also accredited to Minsk.