Mohamed Hamidu
Mohamed Hamidu | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Speaker of the House of Deputies | |
| Assumed office 2020 | |
| Member of the Congress of Deputies for Garua | |
| Assumed office 2013 | |
| Personal details | |
| Born | April 23, 1969 Garua, Formosa |
| Political party | UNITRA |
Mohamed Djaili Hamidu (born 23 April 1969) is a Formosan politician currently serving as Speaker of the Formosan House of Deputies. He is the house leader of the United Workers Party of Formosa (UNITRA).
Hamidu, a member of the Fula ethnic group, was born during the early years of FRELIFO rule in Formosa. He spent much of his late teens and early twenties as a child soldier in an Islamist militia opposed to FRELIFO before being captured and imprisoned in 1997. Released after the Pencil Revolution, he studied in Sanyan for several years and transitioned politically to become a supporter of African socialism. He aligned himself with UNITRA from 2013 and won a byelection to earn a seat in the House of Deputies before becoming an outspoken deputy in the 2015 House session. In 2020 he was elected by the party to act as Speaker.
Hamidu is considered a leading Islamic socialist voice within UNITRA and is typically credited with delivering strong results for UNITRA in Formosa's majority-Muslim northeast region. In 2023, Hamidu notably abstained from the successful vote to decriminalize homosexuality in Formosa.