The governor of Borno State, Babagana Zulum has described the late former president, Muhammadu Buhari as a man of peace, a mentor and father to him and many others.
Buhari died after a brief illness at the age of 82 in London on Sunday, July 13, 2025.
Speaking in London shortly after Buhari’s passing, the Borno State governor said the former president’s death was not only a loss to his family and Katsina (his home state) alone but to the people of Borno State and Nigeria at large.
Condoling with Nigerians, his family and the people of Katsina State, Zulum said Buhari did his best to ensure peace and security in Borno.
“It is a great loss, not only to his family and the people of Katsina State but to the country at large.
“On behalf of the government and the people of Borno State, I want to commiserate with the Federal Government of Nigeria, the president of Nigeria, the government and people of Katsina State and indeed his family over his demise. May Almighty Allah in his infinite wisdom forgive and grant him eternal rest,” Zulum said.
He added that the contributions made by Buhari during his time as the president of Nigeria brought about development in Borno State.
Zulum stated, “The contributions of President Muhammadu Buhari to the growth and development of Borno State need not be overemphasised because we started witnessing a gradual return to peace when he took over as the president of the Federal Republic of Nigeria in 2015.
“Borno state was largely controlled by Boko Haram before 2015, but as he took over the mantle of leadership of the country, he decided to transfer the military headquarters to Borno state thereby bringing lasting peace and stability to the state,” the governor noted.
In addition to this, Zulum said that Borno State, before Buhari emerged as president, had been facing serious challenges of power outage as a result of vandalism by Boko Haram.
He said it was under Buhari’s leadership that the Federal Government established an independent gas power supply through the NNPC for the people of Borno.
“And you know what that means to the people of Borno state, especially to Maiduguri. Power, electricity is everything.
“And last but not least, the nexus between peace security and development cannot be overemphasised because once there is no peace, there will be no security and without security there will be no development.
“President Buhari was my father and to me, a mentor and indeed a brother to me because I had unfiltered access to him during his last four years in power. He has mentored me and I have learnt a lot of lessons from him,” he added.
