Mustapha was born in 1956 in Garaha, a village located in
Hong Local Government Area of
Adamawa State in the
North Eastern. Mustapha attended primary school in Hong, Adamawa and proceeded to North East College of Arts and Sciences in Maiduguri, Borno State for his high school education. He graduated in 1976. He attended
Ahmadu Bello University in Zaria where he received Bachelor of Law (LL.B) in 1979. He proceeded to Nigeria Law School, Lagos for mandatory one-year law class and graduated in 1980. He was called to
Nigerian Bar in the same year. He did his one-year mandatory
national service between 1980 and 1981. Mustapha started his legal practice in Messrs Onagoruwa & Co in
Lagos as a Counsel in 1983. He had a stint at an Italian consultancy firm Sotesa Nigeria Limited earlier. In 1994 he stablished his own law practice firm Messrs Mustapha & Associates and served as its Principal Counsel until 2000. He later worked in another law firm Adriot Lex & Co. serving as Principal Consultant from 2000 to 2006. Mustapha has served as a member of several boards of companies in the manufacturing, financial services and oil and gas sectors – he has been described as a "boardroam guru". ==Early political career==