Buba, who currently chairs the Senate Committee on Livestock and Animal Husbandry and is the Peoples Redemption Party’s governorship candidate in Bauchi State, said the latest allegations were part of a prolonged campaign of disinformation and character assassination against him. He maintained that he has never sponsored bandits or knowingly hosted bandit kingpins at his residence.
The controversy followed the circulation of videos by a social media content creator identified as “D English Alhaji”. The material was presented as showing suspected bandit kingpins visiting Buba’s residence. The allegations gained further attention after a man identified as Hassan made additional claims during an interview with the content creator, alleging that the senator was among politicians assisting bandits in the region.
One of the more serious claims was that people allegedly connected to the notorious bandit leader Dogo Gide were brought to Abuja for specialised training through an aide linked to the senator. Buba has rejected the allegations and challenged those making them to subject their claims to proper investigation and evidentiary standards rather than relying on the fact that the material has gone viral online.
In a statement titled “Setting the Record Straight: My Response to Fabricated Videos, False Allegations and a Sustained Campaign of Disinformation,” Buba said he had initially exercised restraint because of the sensitive nature of his previous responsibilities as chairman of the Senate Committee on National Security and Intelligence.
He argued that his former position required discretion because publicly discussing certain security interventions could expose sources, compromise sensitive operations or place individuals at risk. He said his decision not to respond immediately to every accusation should therefore not be interpreted as an inability to defend himself.
Buba traced the latest controversy to allegations that began after an incident in Bauchi on September 15, 2024, involving a militia group reportedly operating under the guise of hunters. According to his account, two charcoal sellers were killed during the incident, prompting him to visit the victims’ families and demand that the authorities investigate the killings.
The senator said his intervention subsequently became connected to allegations that he had links with banditry. He specifically recalled a claim that he had sponsored a suspected bandit kingpin to attend the 2024 Hajj through an aide named Yahaya Ibrahim. Buba denied the allegation and said he did not have an aide by that name at the time, while inviting security agencies to investigate the matter.
He also said he later instituted a defamation case at the High Court of the Federal Capital Territory over some of the allegations. The existence of separate legal proceedings is important to the current controversy because some of the claims surrounding the senator have already moved beyond social-media exchanges into formal legal proceedings.
The senator's explanation for the latest videos centres on the people appearing in them. Buba said a young man identified as Hassan Husseini was introduced to him in 2024 as an orphan who needed assistance with his education. According to the senator, he helped enrol Husseini in a private college and an Islamic school in Kaduna and also provided him with a bicycle.
Buba said the young man later abandoned his studies and requested financial assistance to establish a car dealership. The senator said he declined the request and advised him to return to school.
According to Buba, he subsequently discovered that Husseini had recorded photographs and videos of people visiting his residence. He alleged that some of the materials were later used to construct claims that the visitors were bandit leaders.
The senator said the latest viral material was particularly misleading because, according to a fact-check he cited, it combined two unrelated video clips. He said the first footage showed Hajj returnees from Kaduna who visited his residence in 2023, while the second showed different individuals displaying passports. He also pointed to differences in the languages spoken in the two clips, saying people in the first video spoke Fulfulde while those in the second spoke English.
That explanation is central to Buba's defence, but it is important to distinguish between what the senator says a fact-check established and an independently verified conclusion. The available reports document Buba's account and his rejection of the allegations; they do not, by themselves, establish that every person appearing in the disputed footage has been conclusively identified or that all questions surrounding the videos have been independently resolved.
The controversy is also not entirely new. Buba has faced allegations connecting him to banditry since 2024, which he has repeatedly denied. In a separate case, five people were arraigned before the Federal High Court in Abuja in connection with allegations including cyberstalking, defamation, cybercrime and advance-fee fraud arising from material concerning the senator. The defendants pleaded not guilty.
The case, marked FHC/ABJ/CR/526/2025, has continued through 2026. A Federal High Court hearing in April was adjourned, with the matter involving allegations against an Abuja-based lawyer and other defendants accused of linking Buba to sponsorship of banditry through online material. The existence of the court case does not prove the allegations against the defendants or against Buba; rather, it shows that some of the dispute over the senator's alleged links and the publication of accusations has entered the judicial process.
Buba has also said he petitioned the Nigeria Police Force in September 2025 after individuals allegedly circulated the videos and demanded money from him. According to his account, several people were arrested and investigated before five suspects were arraigned in October 2025. He said the matter remains before the court and that the next hearing is scheduled for September 29, 2026.
The senator has now extended his legal response beyond Nigeria, saying he submitted a criminal complaint to the Public Prosecutor at the Tribunal of First Instance in Niamey, Niger Republic, against Hassan Saleh Hussein over allegations of defamation and electronic insult. That complaint is an allegation of legal action rather than a finding of guilt against the person named by Buba.
The timing of the renewed controversy also gives the allegations a political dimension. Buba is seeking the governorship of Bauchi State on the PRP platform ahead of the 2027 elections, and he has accused political opponents of exploiting the allegations to damage his reputation. He has insisted that disagreements over his political ambitions should be settled through debate over policies, competence and leadership rather than accusations that are not backed by verifiable evidence.
At the same time, Buba's political position makes independent verification particularly important. Allegations involving politicians and armed groups are serious matters of public interest, but the fact that a video is widely shared does not establish the identity of people appearing in it, the circumstances in which footage was recorded or the purpose of a meeting. Equally, a politician's denial should not automatically be treated as proof that every allegation is false.
For journalists, investigators and members of the public, the key question is therefore not simply whether the videos have gone viral but whether the underlying claims can be independently established through identifiable people, dates, locations, original footage, documentary evidence and credible investigations. Buba himself has called for the allegations to be tested against evidence rather than social-media repetition.
The senator said he remains open to scrutiny but warned against what he described as the recycling of old allegations, edited footage and new captions until repeated claims begin to appear credible simply because they have been widely circulated.
For now, Buba's position is clear: he denies having links with bandits, rejects claims that bandit kingpins visited his residence and says the viral videos being used against him were assembled from unrelated footage. The allegations, however, remain politically and publicly significant because of the seriousness of the accusations and the ongoing legal disputes surrounding some of the material. Whether the latest claims can be substantiated will ultimately depend on independent evidence and the outcome of relevant investigations and court proceedings, rather than the competing narratives circulating online.
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