A Nigerian senator accused of sponsoring banditry is now running for governor as a criminal defamation case stemming from the allegations proceeds in federal court. Senator Shehu Buba Umar, who represents Bauchi South, is the Peoples Redemption Party’s candidate for governor in 2027. He has faced recurring public allegations of sponsoring banditry since September 2024, which he denies.
In Nigerian official documents and public statements, “banditry” is frequently used as a politically neutral label for attacks by armed Fulani Islamist groups against Christian communities.
Buba was elected to the Senate in February 2023 and was named chairman of the Senate Committee on National Security and Intelligence that July. The position placed the first-term senator at the center of legislative oversight of Nigeria’s intelligence agencies, which identify armed groups and work to prevent attacks.
Fulani militias have attacked Christian communities in Nigeria’s Middle Belt and Buba’s constituency of Bauchi South. Elsewhere in northern Nigeria, terrorist organizations including Boko Haram, Lakurawa, JNIM, Ansaru, and ISWAP carry out attacks. These groups are increasingly aligning themselves with Muslim bandit gangs, blurring the line between religious persecution and economically motivated crime. The resulting kidnappings and killings have displaced large numbers of Christians.
He held the post until November 2025, when Senate President Godswill Akpabio removed him during a committee restructuring. Akpabio cited the committee’s failure to provide adequate oversight amid worsening national insecurity.
National data illustrate the scale of the insecurity during Buba’s tenure. Intersociety, a Nigerian civil-society watchdog, reported at least 8,222 Christians killed nationwide between January 2023 and January 2024, roughly 5,000 killed in 2024, and at least 7,087 killed and 7,899 abducted in the first 220 days of 2025.
Buba was reassigned to chair the Committee on Livestock and Animal Husbandry. In May 2026, he withdrew from the governorship primary of the APC, Nigeria’s ruling party led by President Bola Tinubu, and defected to the Peoples Redemption Party. The minor party holds no seats in Nigeria’s National Assembly. Within 24 hours of joining, Buba became its sole aspirant and won its governorship nomination. INEC confirmed him as the PRP’s official candidate for the 2027 election in August.
The allegations began on September 19, 2024, when then-Bauchi Governor Bala Mohammed wrote to President Bola Tinubu concerning a “Security Report on Sen. Shehu Buba Umar.” The petition, reviewed directly for this report, stated that Department of State Services operatives had demanded the e-passports of two people registered for the 2024 Hajj through the Bauchi State Muslims Pilgrims Welfare Board.
One was Zainab Aliyu Gado, whose passport had already been released for travel. The other was Abubakar Idris, whose passport was handed to the DSS. The agency detained him on suspicion of banditry and kidnapping in Zamfara State.
According to the petition, board records showed that the pair had been registered “among others through one Yahaya Ibrahim, Senior Legislative Aide to Sen. Shehu Buba Umar.” It called the development evidence of the senator’s “complicity in supporting, enabling and empowering bandits to cause mayhem and go unscathed” and said it warranted a “thorough investigation.”
Buba’s office responded within days, calling the allegations “baseless, fabricated and malicious.” It denied that he employed an aide named Yahaya Ibrahim and said security services, not his office, were responsible for screening Hajj pilgrims.
On October 6, 2024, the Supreme Council for Shari’ah in Nigeria issued a press release that was also reviewed directly for this report. The council said it “stands in full support of Senator Shehu Buba Umar” and called the governor’s allegation “baseless” and “a dangerous attempt to distract those responsible” from Nigeria’s actual security challenges. It cited Buba’s record on the Senate security committee. The Muslim Rights Concern issued a similar statement, describing the petition as politically motivated.
Buba’s public profile on security matters improved in 2025. Nigerian media reported that Fulani bandit leader Bello Turji released 32 hostages in August and additional captives in October following non-kinetic dialogue. The talks involved Islamic clerics, the Office of the National Security Adviser, and Buba. Turji reportedly commended Buba, President Tinubu, National Security Adviser Nuhu Ribadu, and Zamfara Governor Dauda Lawal.
The allegations resurfaced in August 2026, when a content creator called D English Alhaji circulated a video described as showing “bandit kingpins” at a senator’s residence. A PRNigeria fact-check found that the video combined two unrelated clips. One showed Kaduna-based Hajj returnees Isa Usman and Abubakar Bula speaking Fulfulde during a 2023 visit to Buba’s home. The other showed an unrelated group displaying passports. PRNigeria found no evidence linking either identified man to banditry or terrorism.
The same content creator later interviewed the man who supplied the footage, identified as Hassan and also reported as Hassan Husseini or Hassan Saleh Hussein. On September 2, 2026, Hassan publicly named Buba as the senator referenced in his earlier posts. He also alleged that individuals linked to bandit leader Dogo Gide had been brought to Abuja for training through one of Buba’s aides.
Buba responded in a statement titled “Setting the Record Straight” and in a Hausa-language radio interview. He said Hassan had been brought to him in 2024 as an orphan seeking an education. Through his charitable foundation, Buba enrolled him in Western and Islamic schools and gave him a tricycle. Hassan left school after two or three terms to sell cars, prompting Buba to rebuke him. According to Buba, Hassan then disappeared and later circulated photographs and videos taken while he lived in the household.
The senator said he referred the matter to the Inspector-General of Police on September 9, 2025, leading to four arrests. Hassan fled to Niger Republic, where Buba said he later filed a defamation complaint against him with Nigerien prosecutors.
The underlying criminal case is now before Nigeria’s federal courts. According to charge documents reported by Sahara Reporters, the Nigeria Police Force filed an 11-count charge, Case No. FHC/ABJ/CR/526/2025, against five defendants: Ahmed Abdulrahman, Daure David, Ishaq Abubakar Muhammed, a TikToker known as “Major,” Abdulrashid Abdullahi Musa, and Nasir Usman Abubakar. They were accused of conspiring to cyberstalk the senator.
The five were arraigned on October 30, 2025, before Justice Rita Ofili-Ajumogobia of the Federal High Court in Abuja. The charges included criminal conspiracy, cyberstalking, criminal defamation, advance-fee fraud, and extortion. They pleaded not guilty and were granted bail after being held at Kuje Correctional Centre. The next hearing is scheduled for September 29, 2026.
The political climate surrounding the case has shifted again. On September 7, 2026, the Supreme Council for Shari’ah in Nigeria, which had fully defended Buba two years earlier, issued a new statement signed by Secretary-General Nafiu Baba-Ahmad. It called on the Office of the National Security Adviser (ONSA) and the DSS to conduct “a swift, thorough and independent investigation” into the renewed allegations and make the findings public.
The council said the statement did not reverse its 2024 position but reflected the seriousness of allegations now involving terrorism as well as banditry. The Northern States Christian Elders Forum separately called for an independent investigation.
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