[1] Muhammad Gao took part in Kurmina-fari Al-Hadi's conspiracy against Askia Al-Hajj, but he changed sides along with his other brothers and turned against the rebel.
[2][3] During the reign of Askia Ishaq II, Muhammad Gao served as Balma’a, military commander of Kabara near Timbuktu.
[7] Ishaq II gathered a unit of 1,200 elite horsemen and ordered his hi-koi (chief naval commander), Laha, to strike the pasha in the town of Kukiya.
Muhammad Gao was supposed to join this unit, leading 100 cavalrymen, but his soldiers proclaimed him as the new Askia, while Ishaq II fled to the Gurma province, where he was killed.
[4] Another version of the story suggests that the battle itself took place in Gurma, and immediately afterward Askia Ishaq fled, ultimately meeting his death at the hands of the Tuaregs.
Pasha Mahmud ben Zergun held a reception for the arriving guests, during which he ordered the imprisonment of all Songhai people except Bukar, raising suspicions that he was complicit.
Michel proposes that Qaid Mami was in fact the one who suggested to Muhammad Gao that, as a gesture of goodwill, he should provide food to the starving residents of Timbuktu.