Connect with us

News

Why Gov Zulum Will Always Win -Bwala

Published

4 years ago

on

Spokesman of the Campaign Council for APC in Borno State and former Commissioner for Home Affairs Information and Culture, Inuwa spoke to some journalists after the inauguration of the campaign council last Sunday. Our correspondent captured the moment:

Your Governor has just inaugurated the campaign council for his re-election bid in 2023, with you as co- chairman of the Media and Publicity Committee. But we expected you to be at the center with your former boss, Kashim Shettima. What really is happening?

I am involved with Senator Kashim Shettima in his quest for the Vice Presidency, as you perhaps know. I am a key stakeholder in Borno and you cannot separate Kashim Shettima’s politics from that of Governor Babagana Umara Zulum. Essentially, I am in the Borno Campaign Council with the full consent of Senator Kashim Shettima, and that does not stop me contributing to events at the center. And I do not see anything wrong in combining the two, after all we are of the same party, with a common set of goals; a common approach for the same actors. If the Governor feels I am important to the project at home and invites me to come down, I feel I owe him and my state the obligation to come down and team up with my colleagues here. So there is nothing wrong, rather, there is something right.

Now that you are here, what will be the highpoints of your campaigns, in the face if an emergent strong opposition?

Although “strong” is a relative term in this context, depending upon your own perception, we are not under rating anybody who may be seeking to upstage the system. We accord every party, as a matter of right their places in the political space. We also respect anybody who seeks to participate in the elections, but you know, just like everybody does, that, Professor Babagana Umara Zulum’s position remains unshaken.
Be that as it may, our campaigns are going to be anchored on the Governor’s achievements in the last three and a half years; on issues that define the moment and on what we believe to be the collective goodwill if the people of Borno state.
It is not controvertible to say, Professor Zulum has given very good account of himself as a leader. He has demonstrated capacity to rescue the state from years of challenges, he has developed our infrastructures and he has proved even beyond our borders that he has the best intention to re-write the history of Borno, different from the narrative that portrays us, as a axis of death, poverty and ignorance. Very soon, in conjunction with his media handlers, we will roll out some of the things he has done over the years and allow the people to judge.
We do not intend to engage in frivolities or diversionary debates that may tend to take away the glow on Zulum’s performance as a Governor: unless otherwise provoked, rather, we will seek for constructive engagements, as we strive towards returning the man, who the world knows as a performer, back to office. Mind you, we are not coming to market a saint, but to sell a man, who has demonstrably become the hope of a better tomorrow for our people. I personally feel that, if there is any Governor who deserves a seamless return to office, that should be Professor Babagana Umara Zulum.

You sound rather too confident of Professir Zulum’s victory, yet the reality on ground suggests that, the PDP in particular is poised to give you a rin for your money?

It seems your concept of reality is different from what others could see. Much as we are not going to underate any political party, you cannot honestly say that there is any grounded enough to give the APC any serious challenge. They may make their points, by rising slightly above the performances of the opposition in the past, but that will not be enough to give any one of them victory over us. We plan to start going out very soon and engage the people one on one. The flashes you see, by the hoisting of flags and billboards in certain locations do not translate to the actual votes. As you can see, the camoaign council which has just been inaugurated has on board every politician of note, on in Birno, and we do not intend to retire to our houses, but to reach out to every prospective voter, with our message of renewed hope for Borno state. We have mapped out a strategy that will deliver us to victory. We are not be fooled by the power of incumbency, nor deceived by the kobo you think we have, we are relying more on physical engagements with the electorates. I assure you that, we have every cause to remain confident that Professor Babagana Umara Zulum is coming back as the Governor of Borno State in 2023. This outing us a pedestal for greater attainments in the future.

But recent events in the state have tended to erode the credibility of your Governor, with the office attack on the office of the NNPP by hoodlums suspected to have been sponsored by the state Government and when the convoy of the Presidential candidate of the PDP was attacked in the same manner. Untill recently, when the Governor apologized, there has not been any official reaction to these developments. How do you juxtapose this against your claims that you will create a level playing ground for all parties?

This is one of the diversionary strategies being employed to take away the campaigns and public discourse generally from issues. But let me just say that, as you perhaps know, Borno has been a monolithic political entity since 1999, and for any political party to now start crying foul over alleged intolerance calls for closer scrutiny. The two scenarios were like trying to give a dog a bad name in order to hang it. Some how, one could say they were intended to deliberately create a narrative about the Governor, having seen that it was not possible putting a blemish on his clean records. Yes we seemed to have allowed mischief take the day, but the true stories shall eventually be told. To deny that there were no incidents, is to play the ostrich, but in the first place, you can only react to issues about which you have adequate knowledge.
Those who know Governor Babagana Umara Zulum can attest to the fact that, he will be the last person to sanction violence or political brigandage. As you may be aware, the disbandment of the notorious ECOMOG group by Governor Zulum was one step towards discouraging political thuggery. He has never hidden his disdain for any form of violence, to effect that he issued an executive order against such acts.
It was therefore most uncharitable to attribute the said events to him or his Government. The fact that he went out of the way to apologize over the incidents was the hallmark of tolerance in leadership. That apology was not an admittance that he was involved in any way , but the fact that, he is the chief security officer and as leader, he takes responsibility for any form of breach of the peace in his domain. It was intended to appease frayed nerves and give assurance that his Government is a responsive one.
In any case, a narrative might have already been created, but the police is already investigating the incident involving Atiku’s convoy and I don’t want to prempt their findings, more so that, I was not physically around.But the true stories, which were never told will be known in the fullness of time.
I know as a matter of fact, that, despite outlawing political miscreants: they tend to still find a way of circumventing and making themselves part of such political outings, like the visit of the PDP Presidential candidate.
Very often they trail convoys from behind and in the process often throw objects at onlookers and passers by. That, I understand was the situation, even as some APC youths, who were also holding their party flags, started shouting at those shouting from the convoy. They started throwing objects at each other, resulting into a general panic, by others who were not involved. Some violent hoodlums cashed in on the situation and started unleashing violence on everybody around the area.

There is another issue which seems to be working against you people for the elections: a controversial N2 Billion, being given to the State every month in addition to its statutory allocation, which was attributed to President Buhari. There has never been clarifications on this either. Can you clarify?

It is not my duty to offer clarifications on any Government receipt or policy. But that is one mischief from the bottom of hell fire. Common sense dictates that it was a mere political gimmick. I have personally interacted with Mallam Garba Shehu, the Presidential spokesman, and he denied that there was never any such encounter during the Presidents visit, when he was alleged to have made that remark. There is no better authority than the Presidents mouth piece to clarify the issue. I have equally sought clarifications from people who were at the Shehus palace, where the matter was said to have been discussed and all of them denied having heard any such remark.
Because the Governor has not said anything so far lends credence to what I said earlier, that one can only clarify about issues where they exist. Nothing like that transpired and nobody is obliged to respond to mischief. Let anybody engage us on the issues of performance, or competence, credibility, capacity or acceptability. Anything that will tend to drag us into murky political debates are not worth it.

Some people are bound to say that, the campaign council as constituted was a mere parade of names, as most of those listed were not around for the inauguration. The party chairman particularly took exception to the absence of individuals. What do you have to show as a mark of participation by those who were not there?

Politics us a game of numbers, and can you say in all honesty that there were names of people on the council that were not there? You were there and you must have seen the assemblage. Some of us who were on the list could not even get a space to stand in the Multi Purpose Hall. We were innaugrated standing outside. And I was one of the last people to depart, and there was nobody I expected to see that I did not see. The Chairmans remarks about attendance by a particular individual was not to say the event was not fully attended. I am sure he was talking about that particular individual, whom I know as a matter of fact got the notice of the inauguration very late and missed booking on the flight. I had course to inquire, and I know it was not intentional rather, he did not get to know about it on time for him to book a flight. There was the issue of communication gap and we are not blaming anybody. It could happen to anyone. One thing I can say with authority is that, we are united in this quest and everybody has accepted to be part of it. One could not have been on the list without having been adequately consulted, so every name there has been part of the formation itself. There has never been a more formidable team than what we have. We have on board people who were hitherto reluctant or generally passive, but who have agreed to work for the victory of the Governor.

Related Topics:
Continue Reading
Click to comment

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

News

ALIA’S PROBE REPORT: A DESPERATE WITCH-HUNT OF ORTOM ADMINISTRATION & A DISTRACTION FROM 3 YEARS OF FAILED GOVERNANCE

Published

1 day ago

on

June 20, 2026

By

The attention of the immediate past Governor of Benue State, Chief Samuel Ortom has been drawn to the fanfare surrounding the submission of the report of the so-called Benue State Income and Expenditure Commission of Inquiry to the Benue State Government.

Ordinarily, Chief Ortom would have ignored yet another episode in the Hyacinth Alia administration’s continued obsession with his predecessor’s government. However, the desperate attempt to confer legitimacy on a process that is fundamentally flawed, legally challenged, and politically motivated compels a response.

Let it be stated clearly that what the people of Benue witnessed today was not an exercise in accountability. It was the culmination of a carefully scripted political witch-hunt designed from the outset to indict the government of Chief Samuel Ortom at all costs.

The public may recall that the Alia administration initially constituted two probe panels to investigate the immediate past administration. Those panels became the subject of legal challenge, and notices were duly served on the government. Rather than allow the courts to determine the issues raised, the administration dissolved the original panels and constituted a new one under a different name.

Even the current Commission whose report was presented today was served with notices arising from pending legal proceedings challenging the legitimacy of the exercise.

More importantly, there is a subsisting matter before the Court of Appeal on the same issues, with hearing scheduled for June 29, 2026. In addition, the Benue State Government itself approached the Supreme Court to challenge an Appeal Court decision that nullified the constitution of its probe panels established to investigate the previous administration.
The matter appeal remains pending before the apex court.

It is therefore astonishing that a government which voluntarily submitted itself to the jurisdiction of the courts would, in the same breath, proceed as though those judicial processes do not exist. This conduct betrays a disturbing lack of confidence in the judiciary and amounts to executive rascality of the highest order.

Rather than await the outcome of matters pending before competent courts, Governor Alia and his administration chose to abandon the path of law and embark on a media spectacle intended to achieve through propaganda what they have been unable to achieve through due process.

The timing of this so-called report is not accidental.

After three years in office, Governor Alia’s administration has little to showcase in terms of tangible achievements. Faced with mounting public concerns over insecurity, the plight of internally displaced persons, declining public confidence, industrial disputes in the education sector, and questions surrounding the management of enormous financial resources that have accrued to the state between May 29, 2023 and now, the government has resorted to making the Ortom administration the centrepiece of its governance agenda.

Whenever questions are asked about the over ₦1.3 trillion that has accrued to Benue State under the present administration, Governor Alia and his appointees quickly blame Ortom.

Whenever the administration struggles to explain its performance after three years in office, it blames Ortom.

Whenever insecurity worsens and communities continue to suffer attacks, the Alia government blames Ortom.

Whenever public dissatisfaction grows, it blames Ortom.

Indeed, no week appears to pass without Governor Alia or his appointees launching one media attack or another against the immediate past Governor.

The unfortunate reality is that Governor Alia has become more interested in prosecuting media battles against his predecessor than in addressing the serious challenges confronting Benue State.

Accountability cannot be achieved through predetermined conclusions. Justice cannot emerge from a process whose outcome was written long before the first witness was called.

Chief Ortom remains confident that the financial activities of his administration were conducted within the framework of the law and established governmental procedures. Under his watch, government accounts were subjected to statutory audits annually which were published in several national newspapers, budgets were regularly presented and passed, financial records were maintained by relevant institutions, and government transactions were conducted through established public service structures.

The former Governor has nothing to hide and he remains proud of his record in office and remains committed to the rule of law. He has absolute confidence that no amount of political persecution, propaganda, or manufactured reports can alter the facts of his administration’s stewardship.

He therefore urges the people of Benue State to see that phantom report for what it truly is: a desperate attempt to divert attention from the failures of the current administration and a politically motivated campaign targeted at a predecessor whose only offence is having served the state before Governor Alia.

Rather than weaponizing probes against the previous government, the Alia administration should account for the ₦1.3 trillion that has accrued to it in the last three years. Accountability begins with explaining your own record, not attacking others.

Signed:

Zege Paul Terhide
Media Assistant to Chief Samuel Ortom
June 20, 2026

Continue Reading

News

GOVERNOR ODODO’S HEARTFELT TRIBUTE TO YAHAYA BELLO WARMS HEARTS; FORMER GOVERNOR RESPONDS WITH GRATITUDE

Published

3 days ago

on

June 18, 2026

By

By: Hon. Moses Okezie-Okafor

Governor Ahmed Usman Ododo of Kogi State has penned an unusually emotional and deeply sincere birthday tribute to his predecessor, former Governor Yahaya Bello, CON, describing him as his leader, mentor, pathfinder and destiny fulfiller in a message that has drawn widespread commendation across the country.

The message, released on Wednesday, June 18th, to mark the former governor’s birthday, offered another beautiful glimpse into the strong bond between the two leaders, underscoring the mutual respect that has continued to define their relationship since the transition of power in Kogi State.

Political observers have noted that the warmth displayed by both men stands in sharp contrast to the often frosty and adversarial relationships that frequently emerge between sitting governors and their predecessors in Nigeria, where political succession is commonly followed by accusations of betrayal, mutual recriminations and bitter political rivalry.

In his message, Governor Ododo paid glowing tribute to Bello’s leadership, courage and vision, crediting him with laying the foundations for the progress being witnessed in the state today.

The Governor wrote:

“Your Excellency, my Leader, Mentor and Pathfinder,

The true measure of a leader is not in the battles he avoids, but in the burdens he willingly bears so that others may walk a path he cleared.

As I reflect on your life and leadership on the occasion of your birthday, this profound truth comes readily to mind. Your journey has been defined by courage, sacrifice and a great commitment to a cause greater than yourself.

You took the bullets for the difficult decisions that laid the foundation for a prosperous Kogi State. You bore the criticisms, confronted the opposition and endured the pressures that come with charting a new course. While many saw risks, you saw possibilities. While others sought convenience, you chose conviction.

You were used, and are still being used, by God to fulfill the destinies of many people, including mine. No one saw it coming. No one would have made such a choice. No one would have looked in my direction and entrusted me with such responsibility except a visionary leader like you, who possesses the rare gift of seeing tomorrow in the people of today.

Your birthday means a lot to us because it marks the day a great leader, fearless reformer, destiny fulfiller and builder of men was born. Through your leadership, countless lives have been transformed, hopes have been restored, and opportunities have been created for people who otherwise may never have had the chance.

Beyond the offices you have occupied and the accomplishments that history will record, your greatest legacy remains the lives you have touched and the futures you have shaped. Generations yet unborn will continue to reap from the seeds you planted with courage, vision and selfless service.

As you celebrate another year today, I pray that Almighty Allah continues to strengthen you, preserve you in good health, enrich you with wisdom and grant you many more years of fulfillment and impact. May your days be long, your joy be full and your legacy continue to flourish.

Happy Birthday, Your Excellency Sir.

With profound respect and gratitude,

HE Alh. Ahmed Usman Ododo, FCA
The Chief Servant of Kogi State

18th June, 2026.”

The former governor responded in equally warm terms, expressing gratitude for the tribute and describing Governor Ododo as his ‘success story now and forever’. Bello thanked Almighty Allah for giving Ododo to him, Kogi State and humanity ‘at this critical moment in our history’, commended his inclusive leadership and urged him to keep flying the state’s flag ever higher.

The exchange has been widely interpreted as further evidence of the unusual political maturity that has characterised the relationship between the two men since the transition of power in Kogi State. Rather than the familiar cycle of estrangement and political warfare that often follows succession in Nigeria, both leaders have consistently projected unity, continuity and a shared commitment to the state’s development.

For many observers, the birthday exchange was more than a private expression of goodwill. It was a public affirmation of mutual loyalty, gratitude and statesmanship – values too often absent from contemporary political partnerships.

This writer believes such public demonstrations of mutual respect are increasingly needed in a political climate often marked by needless infighting. They remind us that political transitions need not breed bitterness and division, and that governance is strengthened when successors acknowledge the foundations laid by their predecessors and predecessors, in turn, accord due respect to those entrusted with continuing the work.

As felicitations continue to pour in for former Governor Yahaya Bello on his birthday, the messages exchanged between the two leaders are, no doubt, the clearest illustrations of political continuity, mutual respect and mature leadership to be found anywhere in Nigeria’s democracy today.

Moses Okezie-Okafor is a lawyer, governance strategist and public policy commentator who works closely with both leaders. He serves as Director-General of Research and Development, Kogi State, and writes regularly on leadership, democratic institutions, public sector reform and national development.

Continue Reading

News

EFCC Witness Again Fails to Link Yahaya Bello to Disputed Properties and Funds

Published

4 days ago

on

June 17, 2026

By

Trial in the ongoing prosecution of Yahaya Bello, the erstwhile Governor of Kogi State resumed today in Abuja. Parties appeared before Hon. Justice Josephine Anenih to continue proceedings in the High tension legal battle.

Shehu Bala ‘Bello’, testifying for the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), today underwent extensive cross-examination at the hands of defence counsel in the ongoing trial of former Kogi State Governor, Alhaji Yahaya Adoza Bello.

The witness, who was subsequently discharged after what a journalist observing proceedings described as ‘a grilling’, is now the seventeenth prosecution witness (PW17) called by the EFCC since the commencement of the trial.

During a lengthy and detailed cross-examination, defence counsel subjected the witness to questions bordering on his relationship with Ali Bello whom he testified at the last hearing yesterday to have had dealings with, including the acquisition of various properties, the source of funds utilised in those transactions, and the ownership structure of the assets that have featured prominently in the prosecution’s case.

Despite the extensive questioning, the witness failed to directly link former Governor Yahaya Bello to the ownership, purchase, financing or control of the disputed properties and funds under scrutiny before the court. He also clarified that ‘Bello’ in his name is purely concidently, and that he is not related to the former Governor.

Under questioning, PW17 exonerated Bello from allegation of having had business dealings with him. He maintained that his dealings related principally to his own business and property transactions and he did not have direct business with the former governor on any of the properties and other assets in issue.

The development is being viewed by courtroom observers as another difficult outing for the prosecution, which has now called seventeen witnesses without allegedly producing direct evidence tying the former governor to the properties and financial transactions at the centre of the charges.

Proceedings are currently ongoing. More details later…

Continue Reading

Trending

Copyright © 2017 Zox News Theme. Theme by MVP Themes, powered by WordPress.