Senator Buba, Banditry and the Social Media Mercenaries, by Yushau A. Shuaib

Senator Buba, Banditry and the Social Media Mercenaries

By Yushau A. Shuaib

I approach national security and intelligence operations with deliberate caution. Revealing successes too early can compromise ongoing missions; failures narrated without context can sound like conspiracy theories. Allegations against individuals working at the sensitive intersection of intelligence, non-kinetic security strategy, and politics can inflict irreversible reputational damage—even when entirely fabricated.

That caution explains my initial reluctance to write on the recent viral video purporting to show “high profile bandit kingpins” on a visit to the residence of Senator Shehu Umar Buba of Bauchi South. But the scale of the circulation, and the pattern behind it, now demand public clarification.

I have known Senator Buba for about two years, during investigations into non kinetic approaches to counter insurgency in Northern Nigeria. In that period, senior security and intelligence officials — including the Office of the National Security Adviser under Malam Nuhu Ribadu — provided information that did not support any of the banditry allegations repeatedly circulated against him. This does not certify perfection; it simply reflects what the evidence showed.

The campaign against him is not new. The allegations took formal shape in September 2024, when Bauchi State Governor Bala Mohammed, once an ally of Senator Buba, petitioned President Bola Ahmed Tinubu. The petition claimed that the senator, through an aide named Yahaya Ibrahim, sponsored a bandit kingpin to the 2024 Hajj and distributed motorcycles to bandits. Senator Buba denied the claims, insisted he had no aide by that name, and explained that his Hajj sponsorships — like his scholarships, medical outreach and other…