GAROWE(Halbeeg News)- Said Abdullahi Mohamed alias Dani was on Tuesday elected as the new president of Puntland regional state of Somalia.
He defeated his close contender, General Asad Osman Diyano, former intelligence chief of Puntland in a close contested election that attracted more than 21 candidates.
The 53 years old was born in Mogadishu in 1966, went to primary and secondary school in the capital from 1972 till 1984 before joining Somali national university and graduating with bachelor degree in linguistics in the year 1990.
The president-elect later traveled to Malayisa for further studies and joined Putra university from 1998 to 2000 specializing in public administration and management.
He was part of delegates that attended the establishment of the semi-autonomous state of Puntland in 1997, later elected as member of Somali federal parliament before joining the cabinet in late 2014 as minister for planning and international cooperation.
Dani is fluent in two international languages namely English and Arabic apart from mother tongue Somali.
Apart from his political career he is a renown businessman who owns companies and once served the as the chair of the Puntland chamber of commerce.
Discussion about this post