Zulum: We’ll Never Forget Buhari Who Has Visited More, Done a Lot for Borno, Nigeria

* Ex-president visits to commiserate with state, Jigawa over flood, tanker disastersDeji Elumoye in Abuja

Borno State Governor, Professor Babagana Zulum, yesterday, said his state and indeed, Nigeria would never forget former President Muhammadu Buhari as the only president, who had visited them more and done so much for both the state and Nigeria.

Zulum spoke while receiving Buhari, who visited the two states of Borno and Jigawa, to commiserate with them following the devastating floods that ravaged Borno and the petroleum tanker explosion in Jigawa, which claimed nearly 200 lives, all of which happened while he was away from the country.

Zulum and the Shehu of Borno, Abubakar Ibn Umar Garba Al Amin El-Kanemi, thanked Buhari for the “historic visit”, saying the state would never forget the president, who had visited more than any other, and one “who has done so much and so well for Nigeria and Borno State in particular.

According to Zulum, “Without the 85 megawatts captive power plant you built here, Maiduguri would have continued in darkness. You gave us the North East Development Commission, a military university, a federal polytechnic, and a college of education and ensured the gradual return of peace after years of Boko Haram terrorism.”

Buhari, according to a release by his spokesperson, Mallam Garba Shehu, lamented the damage, destruction, and losses of life that attended the worst floods in many decades in Borno State, ascribing the incident to destructive weather due to climate change.
He recalled his days as the military governor of the then North-Eastern state now split into six states, saying, “We engaged in prayers for rain. Now, we are having the irony of the state being overwhelmed by rain.”

He commended the efforts of the state and federal governments in the joint efforts to restore normalcy in the lives of the people, saying having sent a delegation to condole the situation while he was away, he still felt unsatisfied with the gesture, necessitating the urge to make the trip to see things and personally commiserate with the state.

In Dutse, the Jigawa state capital, the acting governor, Engineer Aminu Usman, led the former president to the Rasheed Shekoni University Teaching Hospital, where he saw the victims of the fire explosion still on admission.

He joined in prayers for the repose of the soul of the over 180 victims of the fire incident, and the quick recovery of those who were still on admission in hospitals.

The acting governor thanked the former president for the visit and for the cash donation to the victims of the disaster.