All you need to know as politician quits election after passport leak suggests he is a child
Need to know
Mahmoud Sadis Buba claimed to be 30 years old, attributing his youthful appearance to hereditary dwarfism but a leaked passport image suggests that he was born in 2010
An image is circulating of what appears to be Buba’s passport that suggests he is 16-years-old(Image: YouTube)
Need to know: age controversy ends Nigerian politician’s campaign
- A Nigerian politician whose youthful appearance made him a viral sensation has withdrawn from an election race after leaked documents suggested he may actually be just 16 years old.
- Mahmoud Sadis Buba, who claimed to be 30, had previously explained his child-like appearance was due to hereditary dwarfism. However, a leaked passport image suggests he was born in 2010, making him only 16.
- Buba was running for Nigeria’s National Assembly as part of the APC party and had told supporters his “condition had never bothered” him. He declared: “It is something I am proud of” and “that is how God created me.”
- The controversy exploded when a family member allegedly released Buba’s passport to settle the issue. The sibling shared an image of his alleged Nigerian passport issued in 2024, showing he was born August 27, 2010, calling him their “younger brother.”
- A former teacher also publicly claimed he had taught Buba in secondary school and insisted the aspiring politician was still a teenager. Nigerian law requires politicians to be at least 30 years old.
- Following the dramatic claims about his real age, Buba stood down from the race without mentioning his age as a factor in his resignation statement.
- READ THE FULL STORY: Politician who claimed to have dwarfism accused of being a child after ‘passport leak’
