A fresh and troubling dossier of allegations, published this week, accuses Borno State Governor Professor Babagana Umara Zulum of presiding over a pattern of exclusion that has, critics say, amounted to the systematic marginalisation of Christians in southern Borno — across politics, the civil service, academia and resettlement programmes.
The claims, if true, would describe not merely political bruising but an institutional imbalance that risks deepening social fracture in a state still recovering from the Boko Haram insurgency.
What the allegations say
The narrative circulating in multiple online outlets alleges that Christians, who live largely in the southern Local Government Areas of Borno (Askira/Uba, Biu, Chibok, Damboa, Gwoza and parts of Hawul), have been shut out of meaningful appointments and topped-up opportunities.
Sources quoted in the initial report claim Christians, who variously are estimated to comprise between roughly 10–30% of the state’s population depending on the metric, receive token roles while influential ministries and senior civil-service posts are kept for Muslim appointees.
The same account traces one concrete political episode to the run-up to the 2023 APC primaries in Borno South: it says a popular southern aspirant, Dr Tarpaya Asarya of Askira/Uba, was effectively redirected from a senatorial contest (amid allegations of intervention by powerful APC figures) and instead ran for a House seat.
The result, the critics say, was the uncontested placement of Senator Mohammed Ali Ndume on the APC ticket.
Verifiable facts and competing records
The assertion that southern Christians were totally barred from holding public office is complicated by certain verifiable facts in the record. According to Borno State University (BOSU) records, in April 2024, Governor Zulum authorised Professor Haruna Dantoro Dlakwa as acting vice chancellor, a decision that was made public on the university’s website.
In October 2024, the university approved the appointment of Engr. Professor Babagana Gutti as substantive vice chancellor. The fact that a southern academic served in an acting capacity and that the governor later authorised a different substantive appointment are both confirmed by that chronology.
Therefore, the institutional record does not cleanly confirm a purposeful religious veto; rather, it demonstrates that substantive nominations were made and that Dlakwa’s substantive promotion was not the outcome of the acting-to-substantive shift.
Public records and media reports on the 2023 senatorial race show that Mohammed Ali Ndume was the APC’s nominee for Borno South, and that some APC heavyweights received uncontested returns from primaries in Borno.
This fact is frequently explained in Nigerian politics by zoning, party negotiation, and elite consensus.
As to an independent local report, Dr. Tarpaya Asarya decided to compete for a House seat instead of becoming a senator after receiving party support.
It does not prove that religious bias was the only factor in the decision, but it does support the sources’ statements of a political agreement.
Resettlement, aid and the IDP question
The dossier’s most contentious accusation is probably that Muslim-majority towns have benefited disproportionately from relocation and reconstruction aid, while Christian communities in the south have been left with less agricultural inputs, delayed housing repairs, and restricted access to education.
The Borno government, supported by NEMA, UNDP, and donors, has made a bold resettlement drive to return and rebuild communities across many LGAs, including severely impacted areas, as documented publically by international agencies and Nigerian federal bodies.
Though academic and policy studies emphasise that the distribution and quality of assistance may varies widely by location, access, and implementing partner, independent reporting has recorded IDPs’ worries about inadequate shelter, insufficient services, and anxieties about security upon return.
Hard evidence showing a religion-based pattern of diversion or exclusion in the state’s resettlement roll-out is limited in the public record; what does exist are testimonies and local complaints that merit thorough verification.
The wider context: demographics and insecurity
Nigeria has not undertaken a religion-based census in decades, making it infamously difficult to determine accurate, state-level religious demography.
Although they are still numerically less than the Muslim population statewide, Christian populations in Borno’s southern LGAs are identified as a minority bloc by academics and policymakers.
They are concentrated and politically significant locally. Separately, human rights reporting and conflict-monitoring datasets reveal that Christians in Borno have been among the most impacted communities by Boko Haram and the displacement that has resulted from it.
This history of violence has left southern communities traumatised and heavily reliant on reconstruction efforts, which raises the stakes for any perception that aid is being distributed unfairly.
Official reaction and civil-society counterclaims
The claim of discrimination based on religion is not accepted by all civil society organisations. A group of CSOs from the north openly rejected accusations of fraud and religious discrimination against Governor Zulum in December 2023.
A disputed story rather than an established fact is shown by the gap between public rebuttals and local complaints.
Eyewitness accounts and interviews are presented by media outlets that initially reported the charges (most notably Sahara Reporters and other platforms); others have warned that local rivalries and partisan politics might inflame claims that need independent inquiry.
What an investigative probe should do next
The material collected so far is a mosaic of allegation, documentary fact and official denial. That means the only responsible journalistic path is forensic:
Request and publish appointment and payroll records for all senior state appointments and the civil service in the last four years, cross-checked against religious/ethnic identifiers only where those identifiers are self-declared and ethically obtained.
Audit the resettlement beneficiary lists and procurement records for reconstruction projects in Gwoza, Chibok, Damboa, Askira/Uba and Hawul to test claims of unequal distribution.
Interview a representative sample of southern-Borno town councils and civic leaders, and cross-verify their accounts against federal and donor project documentation.
Examine party primary records and APC national/state correspondence around 2022–2023 to determine whether party processes were lawfully followed or overtaken by elite substitution.
If the allegations are borne out by records, they will require an immediate policy response: transparent redress mechanisms, targeted development interventions for neglected communities, and changes to appointment practices to ensure merit and representativeness.
Conclusion — allegation, not verdict
The allegations against Governor Zulum are grave and necessitate unbiased, fact-based investigation. While some aspects (acting academic appointments, later substantive VC appointments, political ticket allocations that can actually be controlled by party leaders) are confirmed by current public records, the more concerning accusation of systematic, religiously motivated exclusion from appointments and resettlement remains unanswered.
The governor’s office, the APC, and federal agencies involved in reconstruction should immediately conduct an impartial audit and be transparent, as even perceptions of bias might exacerbate tensions in Borno’s still-fragile post-insurgency recovery.
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