Germame Neway, one of the leaders of the unsuccessful 1960 coup, served as governor over Jijiga in 1959. He had been transferred there for his civic responsibility and concern for the underprivileged while administering a district in Sidamo Province. The obstruction he encountered, not only in Sidamo but in Jijiga, convinced him of the need for radical measures. In the early stage of the Ethiopian Revolution individual units from the Third Division put the local governor under house arrest around 13 April 1974. During the Ogaden War, Jijiga experienced the Battle of Jijiga and was occupied by the Western Somali Liberation Front's Ahmad ibn Ibrihim al-Ghazi division led by Col. Yusuf Dheere, later with the Somali National Army, from September 1977 until February/March 1978.