BUFFALO, N.Y. -- He beat out nearly two dozen other candidates, including the incumbent president, to become the leader of Somalia, but Mohamed Abdullahi Mohamed Farmajo got his first leadership opportunities in Western New York.
"This is a very historic day for the people of Somalia, who, for years, have had leaders who cared more about themselves than the people they represented," said former Erie County Executive Joel Giambra.
Giambra describes Farmajo as a dear friend. The two met nearly two decades ago, when Farmajo worked on Giambra's campaign.
"Was very instrumental in helping to organize the Muslim community and the Somalian community," said Giambra. "After the election, he was given a job opportunity with our administration, did fantastic work for us."
There are other local connections: Farmajo lived on Grand Island, got his bachelor's and master's from UB and went on to work at the New York State Department of Transportation. He's a dual Somali-United States citizen, and Giambra says he used to talk about the importance of change in his home country.
"I remember the conversations we've had over the years about how important it was to eradicate terrorism in Somalia and the impact that would have across the world," said Giambra.
Fear of attacks from extremist group al-Shabab were so intense that Wednesday's election was limited to legislators. They voted at a heavily guarded former air force base in capital city of Mogadishu.
"He ran for president and put his life on the line to do that," Giambra said. "This is a tremendous security risk for him and his family, but he felt it was more important to win the election and do the right thing."
The right thing, and, Giambra says, the courageous thing.