[4] Gaagaab returned to Somalia and worked as an assistant professor at the Faculty of Law of the Somali National University.

[4] He was imprisoned from 1985 for seven years under the Siad Barre regime for his party's revolutionary aims in Somalia, including founding a magazine.

[9] In August 2008, Gaagaab was criticized by opposition members for harassing them by placing soldiers near the entrance to the assembly.

[13] In November 2011, after a disagreement between the Puntland and Galmudug governments regarding security, Gaagaab called on both sides to reach a peaceful resolution.

[14] In January 2014, Gaagaab ran for the Puntland presidential elections as an opposition candidate from the Mudugu region,[15] but announced his withdrawal, leaving it to Ali Haji Warsame.

"[25][26] Senior Puntland politicians and officials from the Somali federal government also shared messages of sympathy.

[23] Senior government officials, including the Speaker of the Upper House of the Federal Parliament, Abdi Hashi Abdullahi, former Puntland Minister of Education Ali Haji Warsame, and Somali Minister of Foreign Affairs Ahmed Moalim Fiqi, along with others, prayed the Janasah at Aden Adde International Airport on Friday, 6 December.

He was given a state funeral by Vice President of Puntland Ilyas Osman Lugator and buried alongside Abdullahi Yusuf cemetery.