Babagana Umara Zulum is the Governor of Borno State, the centre of the Boko Haram and ISWAP insurgency. A professor of engineering who managed the state’s reconstruction programme before entering elected politics, he is known for travelling to front-line towns and has survived several ambushes on his convoy. He is in his second and final term.1

Early life and academic career

Zulum was born on 25 August 1969 in Mafa. He studied agricultural engineering at the University of Maiduguri and the University of Ibadan and earned a doctorate in soil and water engineering in 2009. He worked in the state agriculture ministry and local government service before joining the University of Maiduguri as a lecturer in 2000, rising to professor and acting dean of engineering. From 2011 he was rector of Ramat Polytechnic.1

Commissioner for reconstruction

In 2015 Governor Kashim Shettima appointed him the first Commissioner for Reconstruction, Rehabilitation and Resettlement, responsible for rebuilding towns destroyed by the insurgency.1

Governor (2019–present)

Zulum won the APC primary in 2018 and was elected governor in March 2019 with 1,175,440 votes. He was re-elected in March 2023.12

His convoy has been attacked several times. In September 2020 an ambush near Baga killed at least 18 people, a toll later reported to be about 30, and in November 2020 seven soldiers and two civilians died in another attack on the way to Baga.1

His government’s central policy has been to close the camps for displaced people in Maiduguri and resettle families in their home towns, many of them rebuilt with state funds. The government says this restores dignity and livelihoods. Human Rights Watch and aid groups argued that many returnees were sent back to areas that were not safe and were left without enough food or shelter.34 Zulum has also spoken openly about the limits of the military campaign, acknowledging that insurgents still controlled parts of the state.

He cannot run for governor again in 2027.

References

  1. Babagana Umara Zulum. Wikipedia, accessed October 2026. ↩ ↩ ↩ ↩ ↩

  2. Guber polls: Catholic priest wins in Benue, Zulum reelected in Borno. ICIR, March 2023. ↩

  3. HRW: Nigerians struggling after government closes camps, cuts aid. Al Jazeera, 2 November 2022. ↩

  4. Biggest refugee camps in northeastern Nigeria to close in next weeks, governor said. Africanews, 6 May 2025. ↩