By Prof. Babagana Zulum

I will like to start this address by thanking our Creator, the giver and taker of power, the Almighty Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta’ala, for guiding and protecting us, and for leading us to what many of you, the good people of Borno State, highly regard as very productive three and half years of our collective administration.

Alhamdulillah!

We all have reasons to be grateful to Allah, and I say this not because we are privileged to be in power, but because we are privileged to be making huge impacts.

Oftentimes, when assessments are being made on the successes of our administration, many commentators make refences to the facts that we delivered 120 capital projects in our first 100 days, 326 capital projects in our first year, 556 capital projects in our two years, and over 600 clusters of capital projects in our third year.

However, while we should be proud of these capital projects, for me, our greatest achievement as an APC administration, is the fact today, by Allah’s Grace, Borno is tremendously gaining peace and security.

Our growing peace is the product of indomitable resilience demonstrated by you, the good people of Borno State, especially those who have suffered loses, injuries and displacements as a result of the Boko Haram crisis. Victims of the insurgency have shown incredible strength and abiding faith, by standing against the insurgents despite their sufferings.

Our growing peace is the product of sacrifices by our armed forces under the able command of our nation’s dedicated Commander-in-Chief, President Muhammadu Buhari.

Our growing peace is the product of sacrifices by our volunteers in the Civilian JTF, Hunters and Vigilantes and those who support and pray for them.

Our growing peace is the product of our resolve as an administration to make security our number one priority and it is the product of you, the good people of Borno State, who have stood by us.

You, the good people of Borno State have given your hearts and minds to the fight against Boko Haram.

Aside joining soldiers in front lines, and many instances of communities giving vital information that sometimes produced actionable intelligence for our armed forces, there is even spiritual commitments.

For instance, in February and October, 2020, when we declared two separate days of statewide fast, you, the good people of Borno State, alongside many Nigerians and friends of Nigeria, rose strongly in increased spiritual devotion. Muslims and Christians undertook the fast and offered congregational prayers in Mosques and Churches.

With your sustained prayers as groups and individuals, Boko Haram and ISWAP fighters are dropping their arms to embrace peace, and some of them go as far as leading troops to notorious hideouts of their former colleagues. Only Allah’s intervention could have made these possible.

We are grateful to you, the people of Borno State for your support.

We are even more grateful because with your support, we were able to build over 10, 000 urban and low-cost houses and reconstructed communities in which we have resettled close to one million displaced citizens, and we massively supported them with livelihoods.

With your support, we have reopened disserted towns in our Local Government Area and restored civil authorities.

We have built and equipped over 200 healthcare centres, upgraded some general hospitals, recruited over 700 medical doctors, nurses, midwives, pharmacists, radiologists and lab scientists, and we are building our own teaching hospital.

With your support, we have built 24 new mega schools, rehabilitated 108 existing schools, employed close to 1,000 teachers and we will soon employ more, insha’Allah.

We have invested heavily in our existing State University and commenced academic activities since 2019.

We complemented the Federal Government in establishing the first Federal Polytechnic in Borno State.

We built Borno’s first flyover, other bridges and dozens of roads.

We are placing Borno on the path of economic recovery and growth, through the restoration of safe agriculture and the consistent provision of economic stimuluses to micro, small and medium business-starters and existing owners.

We are fighting political thuggery and street begging through outright prohibition, social reforms, social protection, and jobs creation.

Above everything else, we have strongly supported the military and other armed forces. We have drastically recruited, equipped and supported more volunteers into the Civilian JTF, hunters and vigilantes in our fight against Boko Haram, and we have supported families of these volunteers including with scholarships for their orphans.

I think I would be right to say that every member and supporter of the APC, should be proud of what we were able achieve together. We should be proud that no matter what anyone may politically claim, no one would be right to allege that our administration has failed the good people of Borno State. We have succeeded, and we should say Alhamdulillah!

However, while we celebrate our gains, I will like to remind us that there is so much to be done.

Just one week ago, I had compelling reason to travel to Bosso, in Niger Republic, to meet our fellow citizens taking refuge in camps. That visit was another reminder about the realities our people are dealing with.

Despite our resettlement efforts, thousands of our fellow citizens are still in need of food, clothes, shelter and means of livelihood.

Despite our establishment of new mega schools and rehabilitation of others, millions of our school-aged children are still out of school.

Despite our works on 200 health-care centres, many citizens, amongst them women, children and aged persons, are still without healthcare, yet a huge majority of our people live in abject poverty and without employment.

Your Excellency, fellow stakeholders, party members and supporters, these challenges I enumerated and more, are the main reason why I, alongside my capable Deputy, Umar Usman Kadafur, are seeking election for another term of four years, insha’Allah.

We are committed to doing more and more when Allah grants us another term of public service.

We will continue to implement different phases of our recovery and growth policies and programmes, which are anchored on our 10-Pact Agenda, our 25-Year Development Framework with initial 10-year Strategic Transformation Plan.

Even as we set to begin more rigorous campaigns, I assure you, the good people of Borno State, that insha’Allah, we will not abandon our obligations to serve, for the sake of our campaign.

Insha’Allah, we will stick to our pace, and we will do so because to us, public service is not about opportunism. Public Service is about character, principles and solemn obligation to you, the good people of Borno State.

Before the end of January 2023, insha’Allah, we shall be releasing an overview of our continuity plan for another four years of working towards Borno’s accelerated recovery, growth and development.

Insha’Allah, we plan to spread developmental projects and programmes to all senatorial zones, through fair and balanced distribution.

From 2019 to date, there were areas we could not do much. These areas will top our priorities during the second term, insha’Allah.

We plan to sustain and enhance our focus on reconstruction and resettlements, on healthcare, on water supply, on western and Islamic education, on food security, road infrastructure and above all, on security of lives and property.

Our politics is that of development.

We plan to work and work until the last minute of our second term, insha’Allah, from where our successors will build and surpass, insha’Allah.

I seek the mandate of the good people of Borno State, and I urge all of us in the APC to go to work. But we must remember that our strength lies with our unity, and by unity, I mean- unity of purpose.

Let us go to work for all elective offices from the Presidential and National Assembly ahead of February; Governorship and State Assemblies ahead of March.

All seats have equal importance and we cannot afford to lose one ward.

However, I must reiterate that we should play politics according to the rules. We should be peaceful, law abiding and in full compliance with the electoral act.

Yes, we have differences in political affiliations but at the end, we are all people of Borno State.

We cannot afford to create permanent enmity amongst ourselves, just for the sake of temporary offices.

Political positions and life itself, are opportunities we must all forfeit someday. We must therefore, respective our shared human values.

May Allah help and guide us to another victory. Amin!

Prof. Zulum, Governor of Borno State, delivered this address at the launch of his reelection campaign ahead of March 2023 Governorship, held on Monday, December 12, 2023 at Ramat Square in Maiduguri.