On his return, he was made Crown Counsel in 1956 and proceeded on for the next two decades to hold several positions in the Government of Northern Nigeria in which he dealt with most of the legal matters. He joined the cabinet of Sir Ahmadu Bello as Minister of Justice in 1961, an office he held until the 1966 coup d'etat. He subsequently left the government in horror of Sardauna's assassination to practice law in-private. He reluctantly agreed to return in 1967 on noticing a dearth of experts of the law as Attorney General of North Central State Government.