Benjamin Juma

General Benjamin Juma was the leader of the People's Freedom Army rebel group in the African nation of Sangala. He staged a coup of the government during the events of 24: Redemption. He utilized a vast fortune from blood diamonds, and his network of terrorists and mercenaries carried out a series of attacks, murders, and kidnappings within the United States during Day 7.

Before Redemption
General Juma attempted a military-coup in Sangala for the purpose of appointing himself ruler of the country, thus instigating a genocide in which tens of thousands of civilians were slaughtered. He was disarmed by the United States, however, and the United Nations was appointed to keep tabs on him.



Later, he was contacted by American businessman Jonas Hodges, who wanted to use Sangala as a haven in which to secretly develop a biological nerve agent. Juma helped Hodges in return for his support in another power grab. After developing the pathogen, Juma tested it on a remote Sangalan village, whose citizens died after suffering dementia and paralysis. He covered up the evidence by firebombing the village, and the UN dismissed rumors of a bioweapon.

Redemption
General Juma was not widely perceived to be a threat in either Sangala or the United States since his disarmament three years prior. However, with help from Jonas Hodges and his associate Nichols, Juma was sold more weapons than his rebel forces were prepared to use. His subordinates, including second-in-command Colonel Iké Dubaku and his brother Youssou, began a campaign of kidnapping and brainwashing "little soldiers" from nearby towns. His sudden military action caused President Noah Daniels to evacuate the US embassy to protect American lives.

When Juma arrived at the main encampment of his rebels, he attempted to dissuade Colonel Dubaku, from going out to avenge the killing of his brother Youssou, who had been killed by Jack Bauer. Juma needed Dubaku during this important moment of transition for their coup, but Dubaku insisted, leaving Juma in the camp with the others. The general's men were already prepared to bombard the capital city with the American-bought howitzers.

Day 7


For the majority of the day, Juma remained in the background and allowed his most trusted ally, Colonel Iké Dubaku, to control the operation. In hiding, he kept in touch with the Colonel as the mastermind of the attacks and awaited the withdrawal of United States forces from Sangala, in order for him to execute a second attempt to overthrow the government there. He also arranged to ship the fully developed nerve agent back to Hodges later that day.

Juma's plan to hold the United States at ransom via Dubaku's operatives fell apart. Once the the CIP firewall was restored, Dubaku incapacitated, and the identities of the co-conspirators leaked, Juma's secondary measure to terrorize the government went into effect.

Meanwhile, in what was thought to be the end of a tragic day, former CTU Director Bill Buchanan persuaded President Allison Taylor to make an effort to discuss Jack Bauer's impending trial with the head of the committee.

Senator Blaine Mayer was called to an immediate meeting with the President at the White House. Unknown to anyone, his Chief of Staff, Ryan Burnett, was one of the co-conspirators in league with the attacks, and answered directly to Juma. Before they left for the White House, Burnett received a text message from Juma's group, alerting him to an impending strike on a sensitive target in Washington, D.C.

After dispatching one of his soldiers, Udo, to kill Ike Dubaku for his failure, he put his attack into motion. But FBI agent Renee Walker followed Udo to their staging-grounds on 44543 Lambourne Marina. There she learned that Juma was in the United States, as she witnessed him lying to Dubaku's son about his father's fate. She followed Juma onto a small fishing boat, where he and his men were transported across the Potomac River. It was there that he went over their plan of infiltrating the White House.

They donned SCUBA gear and jumped into the bay shortly before 7:00pm. With a sub-sonic drill, they chewed through a metal grate and entered a small chamber of the estate. Abo, an accomplice of Juma's on the other side, posing as a repairman, detached a laser grid between them and a weakness in the wall. Soon, he and his men were inside of the boiler room of the White House.

Juma urged stealth in their raid, as there were fewer than ten minutes before a Secret Service roll call and they were using a GPS bracelet on the President to track her position. He and his men gunned down half a dozen agents, and he personally executed President Taylor's aide in cold blood. Unknown to them, however, agent Walker had made it to shore and alerted the White House of the raid.



President Taylor was escorted out of the Oval Office and led down a corridor by Jack Bauer, Bill Buchanan and two Secret Service agents. Bill took her bracelet monitor and lured them away. Taking advantage of this, Jack and the other agents led her to a panic room on that same floor, where they waited for her daughter to join them. But Juma's commandos assaulted them, forcing Jack to lock himself and the President inside.

Juma began taking hostages to buy himself time and bluffed the remaining agents into believing he had the President. Their accomplice began hacking into the panic room's locking mechanism, until Jack disconnected it from inside, effectively barricading themselves.

Without a way of reaching the President, he called his American co-conspirator, Jonas Hodges, and demanded his help. Hodges refused, claiming that he'd done "his part." Juma threatened to destroy the shipment if he didn't comply. After consulting his partner, Hodges agreed and alerted Juma to the fact that Olivia Taylor was still inside with them.

Juma's men found both Olivia and an injured Aaron Pierce, as they tried to signal the outside that the President wasn't captured. Juma located a camera-feed from the panic-room and set a chair up in front of it, where he threatened to disfigure and kill Olivia if the President didn't surrender herself. Shortly after, the seal in the panic room was broken and both the President and Jack surrendered.

President Taylor argued with Juma about releasing the other hostages when he backhanded her across the face. He warned that she didn't give the orders. His men prepared her for a live statement through the Internet, which he promised would be her last.

During the preparation for President Taylor's speech, she demanded that a hostage be released as a sign of good faith. Juma took a hostage from the floor and executed him by a gunshot to the head to prove he was finished negotiating. Meanwhile, Jack and Bill discussed triggering an explosion in the vault to take out most of the commandos, which would allow the assault team outside to make its move and rescue them.



When Bill sacrificed himself in the vault, the explosion blasted Juma to the floor with the rest of his men. Jack grabbed an assault-rifle from a dead commando and defended the hostages, as the assault-team simultaneously fought their way inside.

Juma awakened in the corner, realizing his effort had failed and most of his men were dead. He ordered one of his commandos, Ngozi, to execute the hostages, as he planned on buying enough time to kill the President personally. As Juma checked to see if Udo was alive, Ngozi prepared to shoot Blaine Mayer, but was quickly gunned down by Jack.

On his hand and knees, Juma was approached by Jack, who ordered him to surrender. But he went for his firearm, forcing Jack to shoot him repeatedly in the chest, and after a moment, his dead body slumped forward onto the floor.

Background information and notes

 * Juma can be seen in pre-recorded news footage in "Day 7: 8:00am-9:00am" and "Day 7: 3:00pm-4:00pm."
 * In addition to the role of Juma, Tony Todd also played Michael Norris on Day 3.
 * The casting call for Juma describes him as "an African general of Sangala (not a real country) in Africa and has been committing genocide in that country. Juma is light to medium skinned and hardcore in his tactics."