The Borno state Governor who addressed stakeholders at the interactive meeting on the security situation of the state arising from the sudden surrender of hundreds of Boko Haram insurgents at the Government House in Maiduguri on Sunday August 29, disclosed that he has ordered the Department of State Services to arrest preachers abusing themselves in public.

Zulum said; “One very important thing I want to discuss here is the issue of preaching in the state. If care is not taken, this will become a serious issue because I heard different preachers have started abusing each other. I heard they are abusing each other in their preaching. I have ordered the DSS to arrest all of them in the state. The Preaching Service Board has been given all the powers to regulate their activities. We shall never allow anybody to come into the state and begin to say things anyhow, be it Christian or Muslim. This is very important. The CAN should write to us, the Jama’atu Nasri Islam should also write to the Borno State Government and the Preaching Service Board with a view to creating access for them to preach. This is very important.

The Borno state who visited the Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development, Mohammad Sabo Nanono, in Abuja on Monday, July 12, confirmed the approval and also disclosed that though the ranching project is sited in the central part of Borno, there is another collaborative project that would be extended to southern and northern parts of the state.

Officials from the Federal Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development are expected to arrive in Maiduguri on an assessment for the commencement of other projects.

The minister commended Governor Zulum for the approval and also expressed gratitude for the visit.

According to Gusau, the removal was part of measures to reposition the ministry.

He said “The governor has directed his Chief of Staff, Isa Marte, a Professor of pharmacology and fellow of the Nigerian Academy of Science with a speciality in cancer research, to oversee the affairs of the ministry pending the appointment of a substantive commissioner. Zulum expresses gratitude to Kwaya-Bura for his immense contributions to the development of Borno public health sector in nearly two years of the current administration and the years he had served under the previous administration”

Zulum said this on Friday, January 15 while speaking at the 17th Chief Gani Fawehinmi annual lecture in Lagos.

He stated that only God gives power, while the negotiation is easier when you make friends “across the divide”. The governor further averred that anyone interested in welding power must be prepared to negotiate for it.

He said “To our friends and brothers in the south-south and south-east particularly, only God gives power but you have to negotiate for power.  Negotiation becomes easier when you make friends across the divide. If we negotiate for power, we don’t always get everything we want, but we will normally mention every clause that covers everything we need. I said this because I have heard many people say ‘they don’t want to give us power’ but assumptions and projections will never actualise your aspirations. We must all remember that God gives power but human beings negotiate for it. Every interested party must be prepared to negotiate for it.  I’m persuaded that other sections of the country should be given the opportunity to lead in 2023, why not? It is constitutional. Let me state here that I have a problem with the age limit set at 40 [for the presidency], because whatever is the logic behind it, it is difficult to consider it valid in contemporary times.”

The Borno Governor made the recommendations while receiving a federal government delegation who were on a condolence visit to the state on Monday, November 30, over the killing of 43 farmers by Boko Haram insurgents.

Zulum said “One of our recommendations as possible solutions to end the insurgency is the immediate recruitment of our youths into military and paramilitary services to complement the efforts of the Nigerian forces. Our second recommendation is to engage the services of our immediate neighbours, especially the government of Chad, Cameroon and Niger Republic, in clearing the remnants of Boko Haram hiding in the shores of the Lake Chad. Our third recommendation is for him to engage the services of the mercenaries to clear the entire Sambisa forest. Our fourth recommendation is for him to provide the police and the military, with armed resistant armoured personnel carriers and other related equipment. We are also soliciting the support of the federal government to support the Borno state repatriation of out displaced persons currently residing in Cameroon and the Niger Republic.”

The Borno state Governor who was attacked twice by the terrorists in the last few days, made the call while hosting some governors in Maiduguri, the state capital on Wednesday, September 30.

The statement released by Abdulrazaque Bello-Barkindo, spokesman of the Nigeria Governors’ Forum (NGF) read “Zulum pleaded with the federal government to ensure that Chadian soldiers are invited to join the Nigeria Army in the fight against insurgency if any meaningful success is to be recorded on the battleground.  Zulum rationalised that no single army anywhere in the world has ever succeeded in quelling insurgency and requested that the government looked into ways of complementing the efforts of the Nigeria Army with the Chadian soldiers, emphasising it is not to undermine the Nigerian soldiers but to help them in finishing the job within a realistic deadline. The situation in our State has become very dire because, everything calls for endurance, commitment and dedication if our people were to be drawn out of the woods. Chad Basin used to employ about 10 million people while the Sambisa Grazing Reserve and the Mandara Mountains used to employ about 3 million people but the insurgents have made these places inaccessible to the people.”

In an interview with the Hausa Service of BBC, the Borno state Governor noted that his government has been able to return displaced persons to Mafa and Kukawa, while plans were on to return people to Kauri. He added that the IDPs are tired and bored of staying in the camps because they were not getting what they really wanted.

Zulum said “Truly, the Boko Haram sect is working on people to join them. This is frightening. If the IDPs living in camps could not get what they are looking for, especially the opportunity to go back to their various towns and return to the farm, they may be forced to join the Boko Haram sect. It is important that they go back to their various towns because no government can continue to be feeding them continuously.  The sect members are hiding at the Lake Chad area and the Sambisa forest. There will still be problems unless they are traced to their hiding places. Chasing them away from their headquarters is one of the solutions towards ending insurgency”

The Borno state Governor said this on Sunday, August 2, as he hosted Governors of Kebbi and Jigawa States, Atiku Bagudu and Badaru Abubakar during a solidarity visit over the attack.

He said “Let me also re-echo my previous position with respect to the level of insurgency in Borno State, I earlier said that the gravity of the insurgency cannot be compared with what has happened between 2011 to 2015, and 2015 to date. Yes, it’s true. The President has done well. But there’s sabotage in the system that will not allow the insurgency to end; the President has to know this very important point. When he came to Maiduguri two months ago, I said so because between 2011 to 2015, at a time, almost about 22 LGAs were under the insurgents. Out of the four main roads that lead to Maiduguri. only one was functional. There’s one very important question that we need to ask, why is the insurgency not ending? There’s sabotage in the system and there’s a need for the President to examine the current situation with a view to resolving it”