 When his father was determined to be too ill for the responsibilities of the office, Maccido was part of an Inner Council to govern the Emirate.Abubakar III died on 1 November 1988 while Ibrahim Babangida was the head of the military government of Nigeria.As was traditional in the Sokoto religious structure, the electors of the various emirates undertook the issue and selected Maccido as the new Sultan on 3 November 1988.