Musa Zacheus writes that the political opposition in Taraba is mischievous
I am mortified by the recent onslaught on the person and office of Governor Darius Dickson Ishaku of Taraba State by political jobbers. The criticism is not only reckless but misplaced.
Thus the outcry against the governor should be discountenanced for what it is: a politically motivated affront that lacks merit and substance.
If for anything, the opposition has only rubbished its own ego by its ill-advised voyage to choose to discredit the person of the governor in the media.
What could have warranted this hubris and desperation by a political vagabond seeking relevance is beyond comprehension? The attack bears the hallmark of a failed politician, who is out of tune with the reality and is prepared to go to any length to smear others having been rejected by his constituents.
It is, however, gratifying that people who should know are wary of the allegation and plot as a desperate move to cause disaffection and breakdown of law in Taraba State. We should commend the governor for standing for peace and ensuring continued service, development and safety in Taraba State in spite of the grandstanding and covert attempt by certain forces to destabilise the state.
In the first place, the governor has neither violated any part of the Constitution nor failed to fulfill his obligations to the people of Taraba to warrant this campaign of calumny against his person.
The governor’s prolonged stay in Abuja was to attend to his illness and has not in any way disrupted any aspect of government activities. One can also see the mischief in the suggestion of these naysayers that the governor breached Section 190 of the 1999 Constitution (as amended) by failing to transmit power to his deputy. However, they failed to emphasise that Section 190(2) of the constitution speaks of transmission of power only when the Governor proceeds on vacation or is otherwise unable to discharge the functions of his office.
But this case, the governor is not on vacation and he is not unable to discharge the duties of his office. He has been conducting his official duties diligently. It has also not stopped him from fulfilling his promises to the people and government workers. The civil servants can attest to this as salaries, pensions and gratuities are being paid as and when due.
Therefore, to suggest or input that the governor’s absence has affected governance and the morale of the civil servants in the state is totally far from the truth. Another positive is that the 2020 budget bill that has been signed into law is being implemented by the state government.
New classrooms are springing up in various parts of the state, while others are being renovated. In Takum and Gembu, the construction of Model Basic Education schools has reached advanced stages of completion.
One is, therefore, amused that these fractious elements who are desperate for power and will lie even in the pit of hell, are showing their unkindness by making a political capital out of this situation.
They are sowing discord and spreading outright falsehood against the governor, even to the ridiculous extent of calling for his impeachment just because he decided to tend to his health.
In spite of the shenanigan of the political adversary, the governor is undaunted and has been having abiding faith in the social contract with the people of Taraba State.
Their desperation has even turned them into laughing stock apparently for failing to come to terms that in this age of technological advancement, it should matter less from which part of the world a governor is running the affairs of government, in so far as he is able to deliver the dividends of democracy.
The people of Taraba have no qualms in coming to term with from which part of the world the governor is running the state.
Although the governor is presently domiciled in Abuja the heavens will not for any reason fall if tomorrow, he decides to superintend the affairs of the state from New York, Nairobi, London or Moscow. After all the scorecard of the governor as far as Taraba State is concerned is an open secret.
In Taraba State, all government projects are going on smoothly while government has continued to meet its obligations to the contractors handling its projects. The progress on the projects is also constantly being monitored by appropriate government ministries and officials and the reports (including pictorial evidence) are sent out constantly to the governor.
The flurry of projects under the administration of Governor Ishaku is enough to make his political adversaries filled with envy and to remain in self-denial.
Are we to talk about the Wukari Tsokundi road and Yoro-Pantisawa road projects that have been going without hitches or the dualisation of the Airport road in Jalingo, which comes with an overhead bridge that has started and is making steady progress even in the absence of the governor?
These ongoing projects in addition to the Mararaba- Baissa-Abong-Kan-Iyaka-Nguroje road which is the shortest road to the Mambilla Dam projects are initiatives of the Ishaku administration, which the Hon. Minister of Power, Saleh Mamman openly acknowledged and commended during the sensitisation flag off on the Mambilla Dam project by Governor Ishaku in Abuja on Tuesday, February 11, 2020.
The minister firmly believed that the sensitization flag-off itself would be a giant leap for Nigeria towards the realisation of the Mambilla hydro dam, an enabler for stable electricity supply in the near future. Is it not a display of ignorance to assume that the absence of the governor is the reason delaying the implementation of the Mambilla Dam Project?
Another positive is that the 2020 budget bill that has been signed into law is being implemented by the Taraba State government. In various parts of the state, classrooms are being constructed while others renovated.
In Takum and Gembu, the construction of Model Basic Education schools that are ongoing have reached advanced stages of completion.
All these needless hues over the governor’s absence are out of partisanship. But one knows that the people are wiser and will not make themselves the agents to destabilize the state just to satiate the political ambition of one individual.
