By Ndahi Marama, Maiduguri 

Maiduguri, Borno State capital, was brought to a standstill on Friday as thousands of jubilant supporters trooped out to welcome Governor Babagana Umara Zulum and his anointed governorship candidate, Engr Mustapha Gubio.

The mammoth crowd stretched from Muhammadu Buhari International Airport to major roads leading into the metropolis.

Governor Zulum and his entourage were returning from a high-level meeting in the nation’s capital, where he formally presented Engr Mustapha Gubio to Vice President Kashim Shettima. 

During that closed-door session, Vice President Shettima, who was a former Borno State governor, gave his support, officially endorsing Gubio as the All Progressives Congress (APC) consensus candidate for the governorship race in 2027.

Addressing the crowd at the Government House, Zulum described the homecoming as “a testament to Borno’s unbroken unity and political maturity.”

Zulum unveiled Engr Mustapha Gubio as his preferred successor after purchasing the party’s Nomination and Expression of Interest forms for the 2027 governorship election under the APC platform last Monday.

The governor noted that the choice of Gubio was to sustain the momentum of the ongoing developmental service delivery by his administration since 2019.

Also in his brief remarks, the anointed Candidate, Engr Gubio, thanked President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, Vice President Kashim Shettima, and Governor Babagana Zulum, as well as stakeholders and the teaming Borno people, for allowing him to contest as Governor on the platform of the ruling APC.

He pledged to consolidate on the modest achievements recorded under the present administration for the betterment of Borno and the country as a whole.

He called on all and sundry to come and en masse to vote for him and other candidates seeking various positions on the platform of the APC come the 2027 general elections. 

On Zulum’s entourage from Abuja include the Deputy Governor, Umar Usman Kadafur, the APC Deputy National Chairman, Ali Bukar Dalori, the former Governor, Maina Ma’aji Lawan, Senators Mohammed Tahir Monguno, Mohammed Ali Ndume, and Kaka Shehu Lawan, and the Minister of Agriculture, Abubakar Kyari.

Also part of Zulum’s entourage are the Speaker of Borno State House of Assembly, Abdulkarim Lawan, some members of the National Assembly, and party stakeholders.