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From Noah Ebije, Kaduna
Northern based Coalition of Civil Society Organisations (CSOs) have dismissed allegations of religious discrimination and fraud against Borno State Governor, Alhaji Babagana Umara Zulum.
The Center for Justice on Religious and Ethnicity in Nigeria (CJREN) had accused governor Zulum of deliberately excluding Christians in the State from the Federal Government palliatives and assistance.
The Center also accused the governor of excluding Christians from the N3 billion given by President Bola Tinubu to help those whose family members were killed by Boko Haram insurgents and other terrorists in the State.
Reacting to what it termed, “concocted false and misleading” allegations levelled against the governor ,the CSOs in a statement on Friday jointly signed by Chairman and Secretary, Comrade Musa Abdullahi Danbatta and Comrade Yusuf Ibrahim Kudan said it was quite unfortunate that, “the CJREN is promoting acrimony and religious division in a State already devastated by insurgency”.
The statement further reads, “We are deeply worried about the tension being stirred up by the religious group , especially about a dispassionate governor, widely known across the country for his hard working disposition and commitment to tackle prolonged menace of Boko Haram Insurgency in the State .
“We have keenly studied the press release shared by The CJREN Director-General, Reverend Kallamu Dikwa and it was more of a mischief than conflict resolution.
“At this critical period , we expect leaders ,whether religious, political or traditional to always talk more issues that promote and unite people than those that create cracks and division.
“It is in the public domain that governor Zulum has carved a niche for himself as a leader with passion for progress and development of Borno State regardless of any bias .
“We can authoritatively defend Zulum as an individual who demonstrated high sense of fairness, justice and equity with distribution of State resources since he assumed office as governor of the State.
“We recalled that the governor during his inaugural speech did promise to promote unity and work with all stakeholders for the development of the State and he has been visibly doing exactly that”.
The CSOs however faulted the allegation of fraud, saying the governor has managed State funds judiciously and manner of equitable distribution of palliatives and assistance to victims of Boko Haram insurgency and disaster over the years .
“His policy formulation and initiatives have always been targeted towards financial viability of Borno State in revenue generation and expenditure”. The statement added.
The CSOs urged the citizens of Borno State and Nigerians to disregard the malicious release by CJREN and support the governor to continue to provide good governance and dividends of democracy to the people.
