Magashi Haruna Garba

Rights advocate in Kano. The earliest dated public activity found is January 2012, when, during the fuel-subsidy protests in Kano, he criticised Labour's suspension of the strike; 2012 is that date, not a claimed start. He has given free legal services to disability groups, including the Spinal Cord Injury Association of Nigeria (SCIAN) in Kano and Katsina (undated). He met Omoyele Sowore through activism before joining the AAC in 2021.

Running mate to Omoyele Sowore on the African Action Congress (AAC) ticket. Sowore was adopted as the AAC candidate by consensus at the party primary on 9 June 2022; running mates are nominated, not elected at the primary. Magashi's name had already gone to INEC when Sowore unveiled him at his Abuja residence on Thursday 30 June 2022. During the campaign he joined Sowore at the Kano launch of the AAC manifesto on 29 October 2022 and, on 16 January 2023 in Kano, signed an alliance memorandum with a faction of the Peoples Redemption Party (PRP) that adopted Sowore. The ticket polled 14,608 votes at the 25 February 2023 poll (about 0.06% of 24,025,940 valid votes; the share is computed, not reported). INEC declared Bola Tinubu and Kashim Shettima (APC) the winners in the early hours of 1 March 2023.

INEC final list of candidates (Presidential), published 2026-09-12 — SN 4; INEC name: MAGASHI HARUNA GARBA; age 49; male; qualification (as declared to INEC): FSLC WAEC LLB Running mate to Omoyele Sowore again. The AAC adopted Sowore as its consensus presidential candidate in Abuja on 26 May 2026; on 13 June 2026 Daily Trust reported it was not clear whether Magashi would run with him again. He first appears as the AAC vice-presidential candidate on the candidates' particulars INEC displayed on 1 August 2026; the day the party nominated him was not found. INEC's final list of 12 September 2026 confirms the ticket. Poll day is 16 January 2027.

Private legal practice with offices in Kano and Abuja; Magashi is its Principal Partner. He was called to the Nigerian Bar in 2005 and has practised since; the year he founded or joined Hujjah Chambers was not found (his own blog names him Principal Partner by October 2021). He is also described as a human rights activist and blogger. Since 2015 he has been one of the lawyers for the Islamic Movement in Nigeria (IMN) and its leader Ibraheem El-Zakzaky. Notable briefs: counsel for 26 IMN members granted bail by a Kano Chief Magistrates' Court (13 October 2016); counsel to El-Zakzaky in his rights suit against the military at the Federal High Court, Kaduna, struck out as an abuse of process on 7 July 2017; one of El-Zakzaky's lawyers when the Kaduna State High Court refused him and his wife bail (7 November 2018); filed the IMN's suit against the Attorney-General of the Federation, FHC/ABJ/CS/876/2019, at the Federal High Court, Abuja, on 2 August 2019 to set aside the 26 July 2019 proscription order, and deposed its supporting affidavit (the hearing was still being adjourned in January 2023; the outcome was not found); standing in for Femi Falana SAN, obtained a Kaduna State High Court order on 5 December 2019 moving El-Zakzaky and his wife from DSS custody to the Kaduna Correctional Centre; co-counsel in two Federal High Court, Kaduna, suits filed on 26 September 2022 in which the court awarded N200 million against the police to the families of two IMN members killed by officers (reported 14 May 2024); defence counsel in a Kano High Court murder trial (May 2024); and appeared for the complainant in an adultery complaint at a Kano Upper Sharia Court (October 2024). On 16 September 2021 he led the defence team's withdrawal from Sheikh Abduljabbar Kabara's blasphemy trial at the Upper Sharia Court, Kofar Kudu, Kano; Kabara then accused his former lawyers as a group of misconduct, the team's spokesman declined to discuss it and told him to use the proper channel, and no complaint or proceedings against Magashi were found.