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Implicit in contesting in 1999 and 2003 on the PDP platform.

Makarfi was elected in 1999 and re-elected in 2003, serving two full terms to 29 May 2007 before moving to the Senate.

To keep the peace in one of Nigeria's most religiously divided states as the debate over adopting Sharia law came to a head in 2000.

Kaduna saw two waves of mass killings in 2000 — in February and again in May — over the proposed introduction of Sharia, with a death toll in the thousands and large-scale displacement and property destruction. The administration ultimately adopted a compromise that applied Sharia only in areas with a Muslim majority, and the state avoided a repeat on that scale for the rest of the term.

To run the state's budget conservatively and reform its civil service and pensions.

Makarfi left office with a reputation as a careful, scandal-free administrator — the core of what he promised — and steered Kaduna through the deadly religious riots of 2000 and 2002. Specific, quantified detail on the fiscal, pension and civil-service reforms of the two terms is not documented in the public record.