WDM EDITORIAL

Let us begin with a simple civic riddle: Who broke Somalia’s fragile federal experiment long before Hassan Sheikh began hammering in the final nails?
Clue: He wore a presidential sash like a Halloween costume, weaponized the NISA like a private militia, and called every sub-national leader “Walaal” while plotting their political funerals behind closed doors.

Yes—Mohamed Abdullahi Farmaajo, the man who marketed himself as the “saviour of federalism” while conducting the most aggressive anti-federal coup ever attempted in Somalia’s history.

And now, strangely, he floats in the political pond pretending to be neutral, claiming innocence like a fox wiping feathers from his mouth.

THE GREAT GOVERNOR-MAKER OF VILLA SOMALIA

Let’s not suffer from national amnesia.
Who turned the constitutionally elected federal member state presidents into Mogadishu-appointed district commissioners?

Who converted state-building into a political slaughterhouse?

Ahmed Qoor Qoor (GalMudug) – delivered from Villa Somalia’s labour room.

Abdiaziz Laftagareen (Southwest) – delivered by forceps, courtesy of Ethiopian commandos and Villa Somalia’s cash register.

Ali Guudlaawe (Hirshabeelle) – a president for a state he constitutionally could not lead, rushed through in a political C-section without anesthesia.

All three were produced in Farmaajo’s political factory, where state presidents were assembled like cheap plastic toys—shiny, fragile, and remote-controlled.

And then he dared lecture the nation about “constitutional order.”

THE MAN WHO TRIED TO SHRINK PUNTLAND AND JUBALAND

Before HSM began his reckless centralist crusade, there was Farmaajo—the original federal vandal.

It was Farmaajo who first attempted to:

Reduce Puntland to a ceremonial afterthought, a governorate that salutes visitors in Villa Somalia’s waiting room.

Bully Jubaland into submission, deploying every foreign muscle he could borrow—Ethiopian troops, Qatari funds, political sabotage—anything short of hiring a marching band.

Isolate both states from national decision-making, turning the FGS–FMS relationship into a hostage negotiation.

And now, in 2025, he walks around Mogadishu with a saintly face, pretending he never signed the death warrant of Somali federalism.

FEDERAL STRUCTURE? FARMAAJO TREATED IT LIKE A SPEED BUMP

Under Farmaajo, Somalia’s federal foundations were not just cracked—they were actively burned, bulldozed, and buried.
He weaponised every federal tool at his disposal:

NISA – turned into a private militia for midnight arrests and political kidnappings.

Federal Budget – transformed into a carrot-and-stick system: loyalty gets cash, dissent gets starvation.

Foreign Military Allies – used as pressure valves against federal states, especially in Southwest and Jubaland.

Parliament – reduced to a rubber-stamp club whose only job was to applaud on command.

This man did not simply damage federalism.
He turned it into a charred carcass, a project Somalis are still trying to resuscitate with bare hands.

THE POLITICAL PYROMANIAC WHO PRETENDS TO BE A NATIONAL PATRIOT

Today, Farmaajo positions himself as the “reasonable statesman,” above the fray, watching the DamulJadiid–Golaha Mustaqbalka–Sirdoon circus as if he didn’t set the stage for this chaos.

He now wants us to believe he is the balanced voice, the misunderstood technocrat, the man Somalia rejected too early.

Nonsense.

He is the one who:

Poisoned federal politics.

Created puppet states.

Normalized federal interference.

Militarized elections.

Paved the road for today’s crisis by turning federalism into a bargaining chip instead of a system of governance.

If Hassan Sheikh is the farmer harvesting Somalia’s political tragedy, Farmaajo is the man who planted the seeds and watered them with authoritarian ambition.

A FINAL WDM VERDICT

Let history record this truth clearly:

No one has done more to undermine Somalia’s federal foundations than Mohamed Abdullahi Farmaajo.
Not out of ideology, not out of strategy—but out of a blind thirst for control and a deep suspicion of decentralization.

He lit the fire.
Others are simply dancing around the flames.

Somalia will not move forward until it confronts the political arsonists—old and new—who treat the federal system as a personal toy, not a national covenant.

WDM will continue to call them out. Loudly. Relentlessly. Without apology.