On the 8th of February 2017, Somalis at home and abroad gathered in front of the TV screens to watch the presidential elections, eager to see who assumes the highest office. Would that be President Hassan Sheikh? Would he be able to stand up to his challengers? Would Sharif Sh. Ahmed be able to make it this time, making a dramatic comeback to the Villa Somalia? Are we going to see a new leader at the helm? These were the main topics of the day.
All of a sudden, when the electoral commission began counting the votes, things started to look disastrous for both the incumbent president, Hassan Sheikh and former president Sharif Sheikh Ahmed, who were the front-runners in the eyes of the public, it became apparent that the underdog, Mohamed Abdullahi (Farmaajo) was doing better than many expected.
Out of nowhere and frankly against all odds, it was Farmaajo who slowly but steadily became a serious challenger to the incumbent president Hassan Sh. Mohamud, coming in second in the first round. Farmaajo managed to keep the momentum in the second round, running away with the lead, and in the process defeating the incumbent president. The sound of celebration over took the murmur of speculation! Mohamed Abdullahi Mohamed (Farmaajo) became the president of the federal government of Somalia.
The Somali people home and abroad cheered and applauded their new president, a popular politician in the eyes of the people, they had high hopes of him, celebrating him as “the saviour of the nation” in a heroic move, both president Hassan and president Sharif stood behind the new president and pledged their unconditional support for his presidency!
President Farmaajo and his team, instead of taking advantage of the public support coming up with policies and initiatives to advance the development of the nation, to bring both security and political stability, they choose the wrong path, a path of dictatorship, oppression, undermining the rule of law, and in the process making lots of new enemies many of whom were their supporters in the initial days.
President Farmaajo in his first year in office made a catastrophic and damaging decision, handing over Abdulkarim Sh. Muse (Qalbi-dhagax) a Somali national, a former military officer of the Somali National Army to a foreign adversary, a country we had no extradition agreement with, and frankly a country many of the Somali people consider an sworn enemy. Huge backlash erupted, the public became furious, the parliament strongly condemned the move, Farmaajo and his group foolishly ignored the backlash and instead made a bigger blunder, this time calling ONLF (The Ogadane National Liberation Front) a terrorist group, an insult to injury.
ONLF being a group that fought for the self determination of the Somali Region of Ethiopia A.K. Ogaden, is seen by many as a group that fights for the Somali People under oppression in Ethiopia.
On the other hand, President Farmaajo and his team didn’t stop there, they began to terrorize anyone who disagreed with them, raiding the homes of politicians, killing innocent people, including SNA personnel, prohibiting free press, turning NISA (National Intelligence Service) into a cartel, undermining the system of government we have – the federal system, disregarding the separation of powers, destroying the authority of the parliament, and the judiciary system.
Hence, after three years in office, anyone expecting President Farmaajo to come to his senses and act presidential, respect the constitution, respect the separation of powers, hold fair and free elections, and put the unity and the wellbeing of our nation above all is unfortunately without a doubt mistaken.
In my observation, Farmaajo is a tyrant with a cruel intentions, surrounded by thugs and terrorists willing to do the dirty work for him, with that in mind, one thing is certain, and that’s Farmaajo and his thugs will not and I mean WILL NOT leave office and handover power in a peaceful manner, they’ll either be kicked out or they are there to stay with an iron fist.
Somalia is where it’s today, only because we had a wicked dictator and a regime that was so cruel to the people, and what was the consequences? A bloody civil war that contributed to the collapse of our country which lasted nearly 30 years.
Farmaajo who spent all of this time in Buffalo New York, is now leading Somalia to the same path, a path of conflict and destruction before our eyes and all we are doing is crying like babies, and hoping for the better, WE ARE DEAD WRONG. The time has come, we must understand the reality on the ground and say enough is enough, and stand up to Villa Somalia, we better stop them now or face the consequences which will likely be more severe than we had so far experienced.
You may ask the question what am I advocating for here?, I am advocating for the freedom and the rights of the Somali people who are living under a blockade imposed by none other than Farmaajo’s regime, those who cannot express their opinions, who don’t have the freedom of movement, who live with constant fear, those heartbroken mother’s whose sons are taken away forcefully by Farmaajo and his thugs and sent away to overseas, those who lost their loved ones, and the young generation who deserve a better future, and in order this to happen, we must and I mean must use any means necessary to confront Farmaajo and his thugs NOW or we are all doomed.
In the interview Farmaajo gave Universal Tv, although the interviewer did not ask follow up questions and the whole thing being heavily edited by Villa Somalia, one thing was very obvious, and that’s Farmaajo demonstrated very clearly his true intentions, no elections in 2021. He declared the process that made him a president unconstitutional! Paving the way for him to architecture the right process in line with the constitution, Its an insult to intuition!
Farmaajo and his thugs are destabilizing the federal member states, working day and night to install their preferred loyalists on the people and governments of these states using intimidation and blackmail, through economic sanctions and isolation and some financial incentives for those who choose to take their side. Remember people are dying of starvation feet’s away from where Farmaajo resides! All of these things are taking place simply because of their dangerous scheme to remain in office by any means necessary after 2021.
A credible, fair and free election, independent of the interference of Villa Somalia, must take place on 8th Feb, 2021, that is the only thing we should embrace and never accept anything less than that, it is better and more honourable to fight for our rights than to be led and oppressed by these thugs. The time has come where we say ENOUGH IS ENOUGH, we must draw the lines and confront them at all cost, otherwise we are headed to a dead end.
By: Abdullahi Samoow
Abdullahisamoow@gmail.com
