Ishaku warns Bwacha against dragging him into issues

Governor Darius Ishaku of Taraba State has warned Deputy Senate Minority Leader, Emmanuel Bwacha (PDP, Taraba South), not to drag him into an issue he knows nothing about.

Bwacha had, in a point of order he raised at plenary last Wednesday, accused the governor of masterminding the unlawful arrest of his men.

He urged the Acting Inspector-General of Police (IGP), Usman Alkali, and the Police Service Commission (PSC) to investigate the alleged violation of human rights by the police in the state.

The accusation, however, seems not to have gone down well with the state government.

Reacting to the allegation yesterday in Jalingo, the Commissioner of Information and Reorientation, Danjuma Adamu, said: “If the sponsors of the youths, particularly Senator Bwacha, has anything against the action of the police for the arrest and detention of the 14 youths, he should go to the court and seek redress.

“It is wrong for the senator or group to link the governor to the arrest and detention of the youths, simply because someone or some people are trying to seek cheap publicity.”

Adamu, who affirmed that the governor stood to gain nothing from the arrest and detention of the youths, urged those trying to drag the governor into the issue to look elsewhere.

The governor, according to him, has always been a promoter of the principles of separation of powers and cannot do anything to interfere in the duties of the police or the judicial arm of government.

“It will, therefore, be preposterous for the governor to descend so low to meddle and influence the action of the police,” he added.

Bwacha, during plenary last week, expressed concern that 14 of his constituents were, on April 23, “bundled out of their domain and taken to Jalingo, detained in a police cell and all entreaties to get them on bail fell on deaf ears.”