Babagana Zulum, governor of Borno, says peace started returning to the state when former President Muhammadu Buhari came into power.
Buhari, who served as president from 2015 to 2023, died on July 13 at a London clinic.
Speaking with Channels Television on Monday, Zulum described Buhari’s death as a “great loss” to his family and Nigeria.
Zulum said Buhari’s contributions to the growth and development of Borno cannot be overemphasised, adding that the state “started witnessing gradual return of 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 immediately he took over the mantle of leadership of the country, he decided to transfer the military headquarters to Borno,” he said.
“In addition to this, Borno had been facing serious challenges of power outage as a result of vandalism by Boko Haram.
“It is under his leadership that the federal government established an independent power supply, gas power supply, through the NNPC. You know what that means to the people of Borno state, especially Maiduguri.
“And last but not least, the nexus between peace, security and development need not be overemphasised. Once there is no peace, there will be no development.”
Reflecting on his personal relationship with the late president, Zulum described Buhari as a father figure, a mentor, and a brother.
“I had unfettered access to him. He has mentored me, and I have learned a lot of lessons from him, he said.
“We continue to cherish him, and inshallah, we shall continue to have a good relationship with his family members, and we shall continue to remember him.
“There’s nothing we can say, rather than to say he has lived well, and we pray that almighty Allah will grant him eternal rest. I pray his family bears the fortitude of this irreparable loss.
“On behalf of the government and 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.”
