Buba had a traumatic experience with Boko haram in June 2010 while he was travelling to the University of Maiduguri as an undergraduate when his bus was stopped by the terrorists and passengers were kidnapped, he survived and also had friends and family who were killed by the Boko haram insurgency. As a result of that he founded the Youth Coalition Against Terrorism (YOCAT) in August 2010 to offer counselling services to victims of terrorism, as well as providing peace education and skills training for unemployed youths.