The present orchestrated attempt to portray the hardworking Governor of Taraba State, Architect Darius Dickson Ishaku, in bad light by a few disgruntled and mischievous elements in society, calls for immediate condemnation.
There is no gain-saying that the governor has relentlessly worked to maintain peace and enhance development throughout the state.
The deliberate and malicious campaign of calumny against the state and Ishaku because of his rising profile is getting to a dizzying height.
The recent attacks on Wukari and the murder of Mr. Yusuf Usman Donga by alleged Tiv militias, seemed to have emboldened and given the desperados a fierce launching pad and tirades of character assassination, simply to drag the name of the governor and the state in the mud.
On Thursday April 2, 2020, Usman and his wife from Donga left for farm; unfortunately they were attacked on the way by suspected Tiv militia, resulting in the murder of Yusuf and abduction of his wife who has not been found. Same Thursday in the evening some suspected Tiv militia attacked Wukari from old B B Bread area, which led to the death of a young man and burning of some thatched houses.
As a matter of fact, these suspected Tiv militias have turned themselves into terrorists harassing the peace-loving people of Southern Taraba.
These dastardly attacks have long been the order of the day but had continued unabated over several decades, which have resulted in loss of many lives, dislocation of people and destruction of property running into billions of naira
For example, in 1991 Hon. Kasuwa Agbu, a member representing Wukari 1 in the Taraba State House of Assembly was attacked by suspected Tiv militia while on her way to Akwana, her home town. Till date, she has not been seen or her corpse found. Same year, over 100 people were killed and over 200 houses burnt by these rampaging Tiv hoodlums in Kente, where 67 others were seriously wounded. In 2001, same suspected Tiv militias wreaked havoc killing over 30 people and 150 were displaced from their homes.
It should be recalled that the wave of murderous attacks by the Tiv group seem to have continued unabated till date.
The gruesome murder of 19 Nigerian soldiers who were on a peace mission, and were abducted in Va’ase on the Taraba-Benue border in October 2001, remains a very bitter pill to forget in a hurry.
Therefore the latest attacks in Donga and Wukari, did not come as a surprise as it had been the stock in trade of these militias to engage non-Tiv or even amongst themselves in perpetual fight.
The case of the Wukari attack in the early hours of April 7, 2020, was the second in two weeks, although successfully repelled.
Suffice it to say that when Governor Ishaku came to power in 2015, as a leader concerned with protecting the lives and property of the people in general, he swung into action by embarking on promoting peaceful meetings with his Benue State counterpart and various communities in Southern Taraba, aimed at finding lasting solutions to these crises in the state.
These efforts are as follows: Benue and Taraba States Boundary /Security Peace meeting held on Friday February 3, 2017 at the Kashimibilla Dam Site Taraba; Benue and Taraba States Boundary/Security meeting held Tuesday September 5, 2017 at Ugba Youth Centre Logo Local Government Benue State; a tripartite meeting of officials Benue and Taraba Interstate Boundary held at Banquet Hall Benue Peoples’ House, Makurdi Benue State October 5,2017; Benue/Taraba Inter-state Boundary Joint Field Technical Report December 12, 2917.
On Saturday December 29, 2018, another joint security meeting between Benue and Taraba States was held at Federal University Wukari, Taraba State.
In spite of these concerted efforts by Ishaku, these gang groups and bloodthirsty hoodlums are bent on creating disharmony, perpetual turmoil and ill feelings in the state by falsely portraying the governor as not doing enough to sustain peace in Taraba and checkmate this grave, painful and ugly anomaly.
It is worthy of note that despite the renewed hostilities since April 1, this year, the governor had boldly and successfully brought to an end these senseless orgy of attacks in Southern Taraba since September 2019 .
It is pertinent to expose the falsehood in ghost writers masquerading as having interest of the people at heart. In actual fact it is not correct to point to the selection of the Gara Donga, accusing the governor of not announcing the new Gara Donga. Accusing the governor of destroying the culture and economy of the state shows the low level of thoughts of these never-do-wells.
It needed to be said for the umpteenth time that the governor is that of the entire state and not a Jukun governor, whose primordial concern is to promote peace, progress, harmonious co-existence and cultural upliftment of the people of Taraba State respectively.
In line with his mantra, ‘give me peace and I will give you development’, Governor Ishaku has taken the state to a higher developmental pedigree.
For instance, since this year the state government has embarked on the construction of Maraba-Baissa-Abong road, construction of feeder roads covering 1,526 kilometers in 10 Local Government Areas, dualization of roads in the state with a flyover, the first of its kind in the North-East Region.
These developmental giant leaps and achievements, have been replicated in other sectors viz: education, health, security, youths and women empowerment, agriculture and housing to mention just a few
These are just a tip of the iceberg as the government of Darius Ishaku since assuming power in 2015 has continued to propound and implement the manifesto of the Peoples’ Democratic Party (PDP), in the overall interest of all people of Taraba State irrespective of sex, male or female, young or old and religious inclinations. He remains governor of all people of Taraba.