Dr. Abdirahman Mohamed Abdillahi-Irro, the former Speaker of Somaliland’s House of Representatives will be making a second stab on the presidency after coming second to Muse Bihi in the 2017 elections where he did vie on a Waddani party.
In the 2017 elections both Kulmiye candidate and eventual winner Muse Bihi and Dr Irro were vying for the first time to replace the outgoing President Ahmed Mahamoud Silanyo. Out of the 565,617 cast votes, Bihi garnered 305,909 with Irro coming second with 226,092 votes while UCID party candidate Ali Warabe came a distance third with a paltry 23,141.
The three protagonists face off once again seven years later on November 13, 2024 in what is set to be a historic election in the internationally unrecognized Somaliland with over one million registered voters set to cast their votes.
Irro has been the face of opposition in Somaliland over the last seven years putting the Kulmiye government to check and ensuring it rules within the confines of the law.
While it has not been easy achieving this, given the use of government forces to silence dissent from the opposition, civil society and media, he managed to galvanize the populace to push the government to set a road map for the 2024 elections after extending its term by a further two years.
Campaigning on the platform of change, Irro says his vision centered on unity, prosperity, and fairness which according to him has been lacking over the last seven years.
“These elections are not merely about picking a candidate,” he said. “They are about securing a future that reflects the values, dreams, and resilience of Somaliland. We must not allow ourselves to be led astray,” said Irro in one of his rallies.
But who is this Dr. Abdirahman Mohamed Abdillahi popularly known as Irro?
Born in Hargeisa in 1955, Irro went through elementary and intermediate studies in Hargeisa, Berbera and Burao before joining Sheikh Secondary School where he started developing leadership skills as he become a member of the House Committee (vice-chairman) that represents students and manages their affairs.
After his secondary school, he joined SIDAM and studied Accounting as the first degree and Master Degree (MBA) from American University while working at the same time at the Settlement Development Agency (Dan-wadaagaha) in different parts of Somalia.
From 1981 he started working in the foreign service of the Somali Democratic Republic where at some point he served in the Somali Embassy as the first consular in Moscow in the Soviet Union states. He was to hold the position acting ambassador in the Soviet Union in 1991.
During this period, he supported thousands of Somali people who fled from the civil war that had then erupted in Somalia. He also arranged scholarships for the Somali people from all corners of Somalia, while supporting the living costs of many.
In 1996, he moved to Finland and joined the Somaliland Finnish Association. Here he was key to formation of Somaliland Finnish Community which would later play a big role in having a Somali NGO in Finland receiving grants from the Finnish Foreign Ministry to support Somaliland or Somalia. Thanks to their influence, a Finnish-Fact Finding mission to Somaliland was carried out in 1999 followed by a plenty of projects that continue until today.
His political adventure started when he jointly formed the UCID political party with Eng. Faysal Ali Warabe who was then chairman of Somaliland Finnish Association and Irro the vice-chairman.
UCID was the first opposition party formally formed in Somaliland after the ruling UDUB party. It is UCID who supported the Referendum which put the foundation for the multi-party system that the country enjoys today.
In 2005, Irro ran for the parliamentary election in Sahil region and won and consequently pursued the position of Speaker of the House of Representatives.
Despite UCID having only a paltry 17 percent of the House seats Irro was elected as the Speaker of Somaliland’s House of Representatives.
This offered him a national platform in Somaliland politics, one that has catapulted him to seek the country’s presidency.
His calm mien and objectivity in handling matters in the House of Representative earned him many admirers.
Irro created broader diplomatic ties ranging from international inter-parliamentary networks with other parliaments in different parts of the world including Europe, Africa and Asia.
When the presidential elections of 2017 came, Irro sponsored by the Waddani party challenged for the presidency but was unsuccessful in his bid, losing by a margin of 79,817 votes.
Since then, he has been a key opposition figure in Somaliland pushing the government to rule within the confines of the constitution.
Thanks to him, Waddani has grown to a bigger party enjoying a majority in parliament following the 2021 Parliamentary and municipality elections. The orange party has 31 seats as per the results, though its support has increased in the house with several Kulmiye MPs shifting camp.
Many Waddani sympathizers says the party has learnt from the mistakes of 2017 and will be in a better position in 2024.
Irro’s biggest catch was on Sunday, three days to the elections when the country’s vice president over the last 14 years and a strong Kulmiye leader Abdirahman Abdillah Ismail popularly known as Saylici threw his weight behind the Waddani candidate.
Several other top leaders, former ministers and mayors of several municipalities have been camoaigning for Irro.
It remains to be seen if it will be a second time lucky for the soft speaking Dr Abdirahman Mohamed Abdillahi.
