Media aides mark Zulum’s 53rd birthday with “3rd Verdict”

By Daniel Adaji

Media aides, alongside social media associates, on Thursday unveiled a compendium, the 3rd Verdict, to celebrate the 53rd birthday of Borno State Governor, Professor Babagana Umara Zulum.

The compendium’s Editor-in-Chief, who is also the Governor’s Adviser on Public Relations and Strategy, Malam Isa Gusau, announced the unveiling via a statement.

Gusau explained that the 3rd Verdict is a compendium of published news reports and analysis, features, columns, commentaries, discourses, editorials, selected speeches and updated scorecard in the third year of Governor Zulum’s administration, from May 29, 2021 to May 29, 2022.

The 3rd Verdict came after two previous editions.

The Third Verdict

On August 25, 2021, a similar compendium, the Second Verdict, was unveiled by Zulum’s media aides and social media associates to mark his 52nd birthday. That 331-page compendium was structured in 17 thematic sections with over 300 articles related to Governor Zulum’s activities from May 29, 2020 to May 29, 2021.

In August 2020, the First Verdict was published. The maiden compendium has 300 pages with 17 thematic sections, the combination of which had 336 published articles on Zulum’s Governor’s activities from May 29, 2019 to May 29, 2020.

It is our hope that with the First, Second and 3rd Verdicts, accessing sufficient records of Professor Zulum’s activities, whether immediately or in future times, should be as easy as having hard and soft copies of our series

Speaking on the newest publication, Gusau highlighted that the 3rd Verdict “has on its cover-page, a unique illustration replicated from a photograph that was snapped at 9:21 am on Monday, the 9th of August 2021 when Governor Zulum was invigilating an impromptu aptitude test he organised for teachers of a primary school in Baga town of Kukawa Local Government Area in northern Borno State.”

The compendium

He noted that the significance of the cover-page illustration was discussed in the compendium’s editorial titled ‘Our Cover Photo and the Crisis of Public School System’.

The statement further explained that “the 3rd Verdict is a 290-page publication with 20 thematic sections: The Humanitarian; Security News and Discourse; Transport; Infrastructure & Energy; Education; Healthcare; Agriculture, Water Resources & Environment; Religion, Culture & Festivities; Budget, Economic Planning & Commerce; Civil Service, Vocations & Appointments; The First Lady & Women Affairs; Governance & Zulum’s ‘Unusual’ Approach; The Deputy Governor; Witnesses to Service Delivery; Politics; Awards, Tributes & Special Occasions; Foreign, Inter-Governmental & Development Partnerships; Some Sayings of Zulum; North East Governors Forum (NEGF); Newspaper Editorials and The Scorecard.”

These 20 thematic sections, the Editor-in-Chief highlighted, “have a combined number of 196 articles published by dozens of local and foreign news organisations relating to the activities of Professor Zulum in his third year as governor.

“Besides the 196 published articles, the 3rd Verdict also contains a number of selected speeches and updated records of projects, presidential commissioning, programmes and policies as of May 29, 2022”.

These records of projects were updated from the First Verdict, released in August 2020, and the Second Verdict, released in August 2021.

Gov. Zulum

On why the publications are important, Gusau said: “The First, Second and 3rd Verdicts are aimed at preserving Governor Zulum’s legacies to increase access of future leaders to information about government policies and programmes, and to research information.

“Such documentation is important because as years pass by, retrieving information about the activities of leaders tends to get more difficult, especially in this internet age when digital foci are more on newest information than older ones.

“It is our hope that with the First, Second and 3rd Verdicts, accessing sufficient records of Professor Zulum’s activities, whether immediately or in future times, should be as easy as having hard and soft copies of our series.”

“We wish our readers the most informed benefits from these publications as we present to you the 3rd Verdict to celebrate Governor Zulum’s 53rd birthday.

“Happy birthday to His Excellency, the outstanding governor of Borno State,” the statement concluded.