Governor Babagana Zulum has said claim that minority tribes especially Bura in the southern part of Borno State are being marginalised by his government is baseless and unfounded.
He says the claim is an insult to his administration, noting that he has been fair to everyone in the state irrespective of their tribe and religion.
Zulum stated this at Marama town in Hawul Local Government Area on Monday, while reacting to an allegation by Prof. Hassan BDliya who accused the state government of marginalizing Bura communities in the southern part of the state.
According to him, “for somebody like me, I think it is an insult on me for somebody to talk about marginalization, looking at the numbers of mega projects that we have initiated to this very important Local Government Area.
Zulum noted that, even though he is Kanuri by tribe, he is fair to all minority tribes and he would not marginalize any section of the state.
“For me, I think Borno State is one, yes I am Kanuri by tribe and under no circumstances, since I assumed office as the Governor of Borno State, have I decided to sideline any tribe in Borno.
“I was not happy with the speech of one of your elders, because this administration has performed better in Southern Borno than even in Northern Borno”.
He explained that, in the history of Borno State, he was the only Governor to appoint a Christian from the Southern part of the state as the Head of Service.
“This is for the first time the Borno government had a Christian head of service, I believed we are doing our best but we are all human beings, if there is anything wrong we did to the Bura community, we will rectify our mistake by God’s grace”.
“What we did in terms of capital projects in this part of the state is not obtainable in Borno Central and Northern Borno, we constructed so many roads and primary healthcare, we built various mega schools including Biu high Islamic school, we built several churches, we empowered your women and youths with capital and skills acquisition, among other things, all in Bura community”.
“I built the ultra-modern market in Kwaya Kusar, I built a police station, I offer a scholarship to thousands of students in this community, I built a vocational centre in Marama and hospital” Zulum stated.
He cautioned people to think before speaking to avoid saying things that may bring disunity among the people in the state, adding that that under his watch, no section of the state will either be discriminated against or marginalized,
Earlier speaking, Prof Hassan Bdliya, one of the elders of the Bura community accused the Borno State government of marginalizing the Bura community saying that the Kanuri tribe being the majority has dominated the affairs of the state.
Also commenting, the Chairman of Hawul Local Government Area, Inuwa Bwala apologised to Governor Zulum on behalf of the Bura community for saying things that irked his feelings.