By
Dr. Sa’id Alkali Kori,
Chairman, Borno State Investment Promotion Agency.
Chief Investment Adviser to His Excellency, Governor Babagana Umara Zulum CON
Today, I write with a heart overflowing with gratitude and conviction. I once made a quiet, deeply personal commitment, that only the governorship mandate of Alhaji Engr. Mustapha Gubio would draw me fully into active politics. That moment has arrived, and before I speak of the candidate, I must speak of the man who made this moment possible: our mentor, His Excellency, Professor Babagana Umara Zulum.
Governor Zulum has been my mentor since 2012, when I was a young lecturer, just after coming back home from my masters degree in UK while he was the Rector of Ramat Polytechnic. He taught me that leadership is not about power but about sacrifice, lessons I carry into every public role. He is also the mentor who saw the same raw material in Engr. Mustapha Gubio and shaped him through years of trust and tough assignments. Without Zulum’s discerning eye and his unrelenting demand for excellence, neither Gubio nor I would stand where we do today. This unopposed affirmation is not just a victory for Gubio; it is a testament to Zulum’s legacy of mentorship. He builds people before he builds structures, and Borno is blessed to have him.
Now, I extend my warmest congratulations to Engr. Mustapha Gubio FNSE on his unopposed emergence as the sole APC governorship candidate for 2027. When his anointment was announced, the joy and acceptance that swept across Borno were breathtaking. I have listened and watched, and I can say with certainty that I have not encountered a single person who speaks ill of him. Not one. In a political landscape often fractured by bitterness, this is extraordinary. He is, quite simply, a good man, a man who treats everyone with genuine respect, who carries no arrogance despite decades of rising responsibility, and who stands ready to govern not for personal glory but for the people he has served all his life. That rare decency is what makes him a unifying figure.
My confidence in him is not theoretical. It was built in the demanding arena of project delivery. As General Manager of Family Homes Funds Limited, I worked directly with him when he was Commissioner for Reconstruction, Rehabilitation and Resettlement, delivering over 3,200 housing units for internally displaced persons across rural Borno. He was relentless, precise, and utterly committed. Later, as Chairman of Thinklab Group Limited, the private sector partner in the Bakassi GRA and Techers Village housing projects, I invested over 20 billion naira under his oversight as Commissioner of Works and Housing. In that high-stakes environment, he treated every naira with the vigilance of a personal guardian, demanded quality, and never compromised. His integrity was not a slogan; it was the daily reality of our collaboration. Such a man can be trusted with the entire state.
His personality reinforces what his performance demonstrates. He is humble to an uncommon degree, listens more than he speaks, and extends genuine warmth to high and low alike. His respect for people is instinctive, not selective. In over three decades of public service, not a whisper of scandal has touched his name. That is not luck; it is the architecture of character.
His journey is deeply rooted. Born on February 18, 1974, in Gubio town, he attended Central Primary School Gubio, Government Secondary School Gubio, and Government Senior Science Secondary School Monguno. He earned a National Diploma in Mechanical Engineering from Ramat Polytechnic, Maiduguri, a Bachelor of Engineering from the University of Maiduguri, a Master of Business Administration, and a Diploma in Computer Applications. He began public service in 1991 as a Technical Assistant in Gubio Local Government, rose to Director of Works in Gubio, Abadam, and Mobbar Local Government Areas, often in insecure terrains, and was appointed Commissioner for Reconstruction, Rehabilitation and Resettlement in 2019 and later Commissioner for Works and Housing in 2023. He is a COREN-registered engineer and a Fellow of the Nigerian Society of Engineers. This biography is not just a list; it is a ladder of steady, faithful ascent.
The unopposed affirmation is a gift, but the election must still be won. I call on all who love Borno to rally behind this man with votes, voices, and prayers. My own political quiet is over; I am fully in, walking this path as a soldier of conviction. I pray Almighty Allah grants Engr. Mustapha Gubio wisdom, strength, good health, and a heart ever inclined to justice. I pray He protects him from every harm and guides him to lead with the integrity he has always shown. And I pray for our mentor, Governor Babagana Umara Zulum, whose foresight anointed a worthy successor. May his legacy endure and his future endeavours prosper.
Congratulations once again, Engr. Mustapha Gubio FNSE. Let the work continue. Let the legacy endure.