Nigerian Senator Shehu Buba denies allegations of sponsoring banditry
Shehu Buba, the senator representing Bauchi South district in Nigeria, has denied allegations of sponsoring banditry. He said that a video being circulated on social media linking him to bandit groups in the country’s northeast was manipulative and intended to mislead the public and damage his reputation.
Buba, who is running for governor of Bauchi State for the New Nigeria People’s Party in the 2027 election, claims that political opponents have been spreading similar allegations since 2024. According to him, this began after he visited charcoal sellers to express condolences over the deaths of members of their group during an attack in his district.
Claims in an online interview
The new allegations were made during an online interview organized by a content creator known as D English Alhaji. A man named Hassan Husseini, whom the publication describes as a person who was allegedly connected to the senator, accused Buba of harboring bandit leaders and claimed that he was allegedly among influential politicians who support banditry.
Husseini also claimed that people connected to bandit leader Dogo Gide were allegedly taken to Abuja for special training with the assistance of the senator’s aide. As Premium Times Nigeria reports, Buba rejected these claims.
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Complaint and previous case
The senator said that, through a lawyer, he filed a criminal complaint against Husseini with the prosecutor of the Court of First Instance in Niamey, Niger. According to Buba, the complaint concerns defamation and insults disseminated through electronic means of communication.
Buba also said that he met Husseini in 2024, when he was introduced as an orphan who needed help with education. According to the senator’s account, he paid for the young man’s education at a private college in Kaduna and an Islamic school, and gave him a bicycle. Later, Husseini stopped studying and asked for funds to start an auto business, but Buba refused.
The senator claims that after this, Husseini began circulating photos and videos of visitors to his residence. Buba said that in September 2025, he contacted the Nigeria Police over extortion by people who were distributing these materials. According to him, on October 30, 2025, five suspects were brought before a court in Abuja in case No. FHC/ABJ/CR/526/2025 on charges including conspiracy, cyberstalking, defamation, advance-fee fraud, and extortion. The next hearing, according to the lawmaker, is scheduled for September 29, 2026.
