Abdiweli Ali Gaas, the former one-term president of Puntland is back on the campaign trail, the third time in 10 years. Mr. Gaas, a prolific if not narcissistic liar, upon arrival in Galkayo on Wednesday, told the welcoming crowd, “I accepted your call; I came back to you, because you wanted me back. I brought back lots of ‘khayr (good and goodness)’ and my political agenda is stability and an administration for all.” Call it a conniving Gaas who is once again contriving a virtue he never possessed.
But aside from his blatant lies, what did those with moral virtues say about Gaas? Let us reflect on the memorable words of the former Governor of Mudug, Ahmed Muse Nuur, a close ally of the former president, who had very high hopes of his presidency.
It wasn’t pretty to say the least, and Ahmed Muse Nuur isn’t alive today to reminisce that because of Gaas or rather Gaas’s lack of credible counter al-Shabaab policy combined with a lack of care about the lives of the people of Galkayo. The governor, his brother, and two bodyguards, were killed after a suicide bomber rammed into his vehicle in Galkayo.
But let us come back to when the Governor was alive, and what he said about Gaas in 2019 when, under his watch, Somaliland captured Tukaraq along with that famous tank and its crew, and Gaas was running for reelection on a platform of liberating SSC from Somaliland.
The Governor said, “My fried Gaas is incapable of achieving anything. He won’t achieve anything, and he won’t liberate any region from Somaliland. He is akin to the man who couldn’t carry the load on his back, only to ask if the load can be increased. We had high expectations of him. We really thought highly of him. he was educated, an intellectual heavy weight we thought he was, a young man we welcomed, but he turned out to be none of that and was a total disappointment. He failed us.”
Well, Gaas is back again, and once again he is telling the same people of Galkayo he disappointed when he was the head of the state a different tale, a tale of political virtuosity and promises of things he will do for them. However, in the age of social media, there is no memory lapse. Gaas has already left his mark in Galkayo and in Puntland, a blemished and indelible record. A record of wars lost, a tank and its crew captured, of cities and towns captured, of lives lost, of humanitarian funds embezzled, of public land misappropriated, of countless lies told, of counterfeit Somali Shillings printed, that is all still alive in the minds of the people of Puntland and the people of Galkayo in particular. A blemished record full of disappointments and lost expectations.
Let us hear from the Governor once again.
GAAS IS BACK AND HE TELLS A TALE THAT THE PEOPLE OF GALKAYO WANT HIM BACK; BUT WHAT DID AHMED MUSE NUR, MUDUG GOVERNOR SAY ABOUT GAAS BEFORE HE WAS KILLED BY AL-SHABAAB?
Abdiweli Ali Gaas, the former one-term president of Puntland is back on the campaign trail, the third time in… https://t.co/oc5tJghlqo pic.twitter.com/Ltl08cwyp7
— Daljir Media (@radiodaljir) December 20, 2023
With such a dismal record all around him, everyone is asking, ‘but why Gaas wants to run?’ There could be an answer, an answer that traces back to Villa Somalia and with connections to other Puntland presidential aspirants on the payroll of President Hassan Sheikh.
To be continued …
Daljir Media | Daljir Galkayo and Nairobi staff members
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