In March 2024, when the 287 students kidnapped in Kuriga, Kaduna state, regained their freedom, President Bola Tinubu was so elated that he profusely thanked the security agencies for a job well done.
According to those in the room, the head of one of the agencies requested that the president also thank Shehu Buba Umar, the senator representing Bauchi South and then chairman of the senate committee on national security and intelligence, for the role he played in the operation.
In recent times, however, Umar has found himself in the news for the wrong reasons after a young man identified simply as Hassan Husseini accused him, in viral videos, of sponsoring banditry in the north-east.
Umar has strenuously denied the allegations and asked the security agencies to investigate the claims.
‘ENTRENCHED IN THE SYSTEM’
The senator is known to have deep knowledge of, and extensive contacts in, the bushes and has been treated as an asset by the security agencies over the past 10 years.
“He has served on different committees dealing with insecurity. That shows how entrenched he was in the security system long before the advent of this government,” a senior security source told TheCable.
Lucky Irabor, a general and chief of defence staff under President Muhammadu Buhari, appointed him to the committee that investigated the March 2022 attack on the Abuja–Kaduna train. That was the level at which Umar operated.
Umar and Ahmad Abubakar Gumi, the Islamic cleric, regularly travelled from village to village in the north, seeking out bandit leaders and negotiating peace with them. This positioned them as a bridge between the outlaws and the Nigerian state. They evidently took full advantage of that position.
Umar is well known to the secret police and military chiefs, who have always found him reliable in providing what is known as “actionable intelligence” and assisting with hostage negotiations, insiders told TheCable.
For all his efforts, Umar is both loved and loathed across Nigeria’s security agencies. He is seen as both an asset and a liability. On the one hand, he knows his onions. On the other, once his critics start peeling them, they see a man who can be cantankerous and “lacking in finesse”.
‘MY OPPONENTS AT WORK’
Umar believes Husseini’s allegations are politically motivated. He is running for governor of Bauchi state on the platform of the Peoples Redemption Party (PRP).
Although Umar was appointed caretaker chairman of Toro LGA by Bala Mohammed in 2019, he later broke ranks with the governor and defected from the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) to the All Progressives Congress (APC).
He then defeated the incumbent PDP senator, Garba Dahiru, in the 2023 general election, right in the governor’s senatorial district.
Umar has since defected from the APC to the PRP to pursue his governorship ambition.
After securing the PRP ticket, he now believes he is in a strong position to win the governorship of a state where Mohammed—his former benefactor, who has moved to the Allied Peoples Movement (APM)—calls the shots.
Umar and Mohammed have been engaged in a running battle. The governor was the first to accuse Umar of sponsoring terrorists to attend the hajj, an allegation the senator also denied.
The Bauchi emirate council later stripped Umar of his traditional title of “Majidadin Bauchi” for allegedly disrespecting and humiliating the governor “against the teachings and culture of Bauchi Emirate”.
‘VIDEOS MANIPULATED’
Responding to Husseini’s allegations that he sponsored banditry, Umar said: “In 2024, a young man named Hassan Husseini was introduced to me as an orphan in need of educational assistance. Supporting vulnerable young people has long been part of my community interventions. I enrolled him in a private college in Kaduna and an Islamic school and provided him with a bicycle for transportation.
“After some time, Hassan abandoned his education and approached me for a substantial sum to start a car dealership. I declined and advised him to return to school.
“I later discovered that, while under my care, he had taken photographs and recorded videos of visitors to my residence. These materials later formed the basis of allegations circulated on social media. After the videos began circulating and those sharing the videos and photographs demanded money from me, I petitioned the Nigeria Police Force on September 9, 2025. Several individuals were arrested and investigated.
“On October 30, 2025, five suspects were arraigned before Justice Rita Ofili-Ajumogobia of the Federal High Court in Abuja in Charge No. FHC/ABJ/CR/526/2025 on charges including criminal conspiracy, cyberstalking, criminal defamation, advance-fee fraud and extortion. The matter is before a court of competent jurisdiction, and I will refrain from making comments that could prejudice the proceedings. The next hearing is scheduled for September 29, 2026.”
AN UNLIKELY PUBLIC FIGURE
The story of Umar’s life is remarkable.
Born into a nomadic family in October 1976, the young Fulani boy regarded Plateau State as his home and chose to receive a Western education in Newo-Foron, Barkin Ladi LGA. After losing most members of his family in the Berom–Fulani conflicts, he relocated to his hometown, Nabordo, in Toro LGA of Bauchi State.
He later obtained a bachelor’s degree in adult education from Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria, and a master’s degree in conflict, peace and resolution management from the University of Jos.
The unusual journey of a nomadic Fulani boy who became urbanised, integrated into the wider society and obtained university degrees placed him in a unique position. He began paying for the education of young Fulani children and helping them establish businesses through his foundation.
This work often took him back into the bushes, where he maintained ties with his roots.
His efforts did not escape the attention of politicians. Isa Yuguda, while serving as governor of Bauchi state, appointed him as a senior special assistant. Umar later served as a special adviser to former Vice-President Atiku Abubakar.
As his profile grew, the security agencies soon found him to be a useful ally in the fight against terrorism because of his knowledge of the bushes.
“Buba is a Fulani nationalist through and through,” a senior security official told TheCable.
“He has done a lot for young Fulani people through his foundation, and he insists that Fulani children must go to school.”
As things stand, Umar will have to clear his name before he can fully reintegrate into the national security circles, where he has long been considered valuable despite misgivings about his personality flaws.
