Not sure what to make of this. Lets be clear Mukhtaar Roobow is no saint and doesn’t deserve sympathy. He is a criminal who supported roadside bombs, made takfiir on people to make their blood halaal, has blood on his hands. This is not about him perse however but thr fact that for reasons I cannot fathom he had a support base in Baydhabo and maybe the pragmatic thing would have been let him run so you could show Al Shaydaan that there are other alternatives besides killing people. However I could see the other side that you are then sending the message to Al Shaydaan go ahead keep killing people and when you’re all done change your jersey and become a regional head. Personally I agree with Abdiwahab252 this would have been easier if he was never gotten out of jail in the first place.
Roobow isn't innocent, but he is definitely not the first one to hold power after being a killer. Zakariye isn't innocent, Madoobe isn't innocent, Qeybdiid wasn't innocent. Why is he any different now?
The other questions is why now? Roobow was in Xamar for a year, dowlada was parading him around. He was meeting with the international community members and being built up as what you can be if you defect from Al Shabaab.
This is about interfering in elections in SW state and denying the will of the people there. You can like or hate it but he was the popular man there and had a lot of grass roots support. Villa Somalia doesn't want anyone other than their hand picked yes man in the regional states. The law is fedarlism, but Villa Somalia seems hell bent on having full control of everything.
Villa Somalia delayed elections multiple times to try and garner support for their man. When they couldn't get enough support they decided they will install him on the back of Ethiopian tanks by arresting Rooboow.
SW state was actually the friendliest state to the federal government. The shacab liked Farmaajo much more than they liked Sakiin. Now this is a slap in the face to them. If Farmaajo spent as much time building agreements with leaders in these regions rather than other countries we would be further along.
Villa Somalia should've embraced this election and worked with the regional state, it was prime opportunity with Sakiin out of the way. But they squandered it. Now you're gonna see other regional state heads cling to power and try to shield themselves from the federal government as Villa Somalia is making it clear that they don't want to embrace federalism even thought it is the law that was agreed upon.