CITIZEN QALBIDHAGAX: 2018 SOMALI PERSON OF THE YEAR
Citizen Abdikarim Sheikh Muse #Qalbidhagax has arguably been the undisputed 2018 Somali Person of the Year.
2007-2017 the TPLF were after him for a decade but could not get their bloodstained hands on him. He was a commander of the ONLF who the TPLF feared most.
28 August 2017 the Federal Government of Somalia (FGS) kidnapped citizen Qalbidhagax from a hotel and handed him over to the TPLF thugs in an egregious extraordinary rendition that infuriated all decent and patriotic Somalis.
6 September 2017 the Council of Minister we herded into an urgent meeting by the Prime Minister and in a matter of hours charged citizen Qalbidhagax with fabricated crimes, stripped him of his nationality, robbed him of his dignity and humanity, and violated his God-given inalienable rights and freedoms. The tragic spectacle of the then Minister of Information reading out, loudly and awkwardly, the murderous lies and slander authored by the shameful Ministers has become woven into the national narrative.
November 2017 the Federal Parliament passed a resolution declaring that the arrest and secret rendition of Citizen Qalbidhagax was illegal and unlawful, and a blatant violation of the laws of the country and the Constitution.
In June 2018 the new Prime Minister of Ethiopia released Citizen Qalbidhagax unconditionally.
July to November 2018: Citizen Qalbidhagax received a hero’s welcome first in Nairobi, Kenya. This was followed by a warm welcome in Somaliland, Puntland, Glamudug and Jubbaland. Then it was the turn of Djibouti and finally the Somali Regional State in Ethiopia.
On 9 November 2018 the case of Citizen Qalbidhagax featured in a parliamentary motion that accused President Farmaajo of Treason.
In all his speeches Citizen Qalbidhagax repeated this gracious and noble message:
“When I was egregiously assaulted and handed over to TPLF murderers, I felt betrayed and humiliated. However, when I learned about my Somali brothers and sisters standing up for me and campaigning for my release day and night, I realized that I have the back of a 30 million nation.”
Surely, there is no story in the Somali Peninsula in 2018 that can come close to the story of Citizen Qalbidhagax. It has re-awakened the indomitable spirit of the Pan-Somali common wealth. It lit up a beacon of hope and renewal across the Somali Peninsula from Mogadishu to Garisa to Hargeisa to Djibouti and to Jigjiga. The story of Citizen Qalbidhagax has become the story of the Somali Nation and the story of the Somali Peninsula.
By Hassan Keynan