The Coalition of Civil Society Organisations (CSOs) in Northern Nigeria has dismissed allegations of religious discrimination and fraud against Borno State Governor, Babagana Zulum.

Recall that the Centre for Justice on Religious and Ethnicity in Nigeria (CJREN) had accused Zulum of deliberately excluding Christians in the state from the Federal Government palliatives and assistance brought to the state, including 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 coalition in a statement jointly signed by its Chairman and Secretary, Musa Abdullahi Danbatta and Yusuf Ibrahim Kudan, said it was quite unfortunate that the CJREN was promoting acrimony and religious division in a state already devastated by insurgency.

The statement added: “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 concluded that 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 of 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 fairness, justice and equity with distribution or state resources since he assumed office as governor of the state.

“We recall 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.”