Nairobi (WDN) – In a defiant and sharply worded interview, former South West State leader Abdiaziz Hassan Laftagareen has broken his silence, delivering a forceful account of how Baidoa fell and issuing a direct challenge to the federal government’s authority.

Former President Laftagareen rejected the notion that the operation to seize Baidoa was aimed at removing him personally. Instead, he framed it as a broader assault on the very existence of South West State and the federal system itself.

At the outset, it should be noted that former President Laftagareen initially aligned himself with President Hassan’s agenda of advancing constitutional changes and accelerating the transition toward a one-person, one-vote electoral model, by any means necessary. His position reflected a broader political calculation that close coordination with Villa Somalia would secure both influence and continuity of power within South West State.

However, this alignment proved to be conditional rather than principled. Once it became evident that Villa Somalia was not prepared to support, or guarantee, his return to power in South West State, Laftagareen recalibrated his approach. The shift underscores a recurring pattern in Somali politics, where alliances are often fluid and driven less by institutional commitments than by immediate political survival

Former president accused federal authorities of overstepping their mandate and interfering deeply in regional governance, an accusation that strikes at the core of Somalia’s already fragile federal arrangement. “The target was not me, it was South West State,” he said. “If I had been the objective, I would have stepped aside. South West would still be functioning, its constitution intact, and the federal system working as it should.”

“They are not just intervening—they are replacing,” he said. “A system where leaders are imposed from the center is not federalism. It is control.”

Laftagareen also took aim at what he described as the normalization of external appointments in regional administrations, suggesting that key leadership decisions are now being dictated from Mogadishu rather than determined locally.

In perhaps his most striking claim, Laftagareen declared that he remains the legitimate leader of South West State, insisting that his mandate was established through a lawful process and has not been extinguished. “I am the legally elected President of South West State,” he said. “I will return to my regions—and I will liberate them.”

The remarks signal not just lingering grievance, but a potential escalation in political confrontation. They underscore a widening rift between federal authorities and regional leadership, with questions of legitimacy, autonomy, and control now moving to the forefront of Somalia’s political crisis.

WardheerNews