BAUCHI NIGERIA: Shehu Buba Umar walked into a Bauchi press conference this week and did something few Nigerian politicians under fire ever attempt. He asked to be investigated.
The Bauchi South lawmaker, dogged for months by claims linking him to banditry, terrorism financing and kidnapping, confirmed his legal team had formally written to the Department of State Services, the Defence Intelligence Agency and the Nigeria Police Force. The request was blunt. Look into me.
“I seek no special treatment,” Buba told reporters. The line landed with weight. This is a man who once chaired the Senate Committee on National Security and Intelligence, now standing accused of the very crimes he was once tasked to fight.
The allegations trace back years, but they exploded again in September when a man identified only as Hassan released viral videos accusing the senator of ties to notorious bandit networks. Hassan claimed Buba gave the brother of bandit kingpin Dogo Gide access to specialised military training, and linked him to wanted warlord Bello Turji. A suspected terrorist arrested in 2024, Abubakar Idris, reportedly implicated the senator during questioning too.
Buba denies all of it.
His camp insists the timing is no accident. The senator is the Peoples Redemption Party’s governorship candidate for Bauchi State in 2027, and his team frames the entire saga as a coordinated smear campaign designed to sink that ambition before it floats. He traces the hostility back to 2014, long before banditry became the national crisis it is today.
Legal muscle has already entered the fight. Buba’s team, led by former Nigerian Bar Association president Yakubu Chonoko Maikyau, SAN, filed defamation proceedings at the Federal High Court in Abuja. A petition also went to INTERPOL, targeting one Hassan Saleh Hussaini, whom Buba’s lawyers believe is behind much of the campaign and who they say is operating out of Niger Republic. Legal counsel has reportedly been engaged there too.
None of this is new territory for Buba. He disclosed that back in September 2025, he petitioned police over earlier publications carrying similar claims, and that case is still grinding through the Federal High Court.
But this latest move signals something different. Litigation moves slowly. Reputations don’t wait.
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“These are serious crimes. They should be investigated seriously,” Buba said, pushing back against what he calls trial by social media. He wants anyone holding credible evidence to hand it to the proper authorities, not TikTok or WhatsApp.
He didn’t stop at denial. Buba said he’s made himself available to international bodies including Amnesty International, and pledged full cooperation with the DSS, police, DIA and military. He even said he’s ready to face prosecution if investigators find a genuine case against him.
That’s a high-stakes bet for any politician eyeing a governorship run. Either the agencies clear him and the allegations collapse under his own demand for scrutiny, or they don’t.
