Taraba government speaks on Ishaku’s long absence

At last, Taraba State government has broken the silence over the long absence of the governor, Darius Ishaku, from government functions, which had been brewing apprehension in the state.

The over two months absence was reportedly necessitated by an accident that affected the governor’s limbs.A statement issued yesterday by the Senior Special Assistant to the Governor on Media and Publicity, Bala Dan Abu, did not specify the nature of the injury sustained by the governor in the accident, but The Guardian gathered that the governor recently had a leg surgery in Germany.

The governor’s absence, which did not go down well with Taraban’s, pitted the opposition All Progressives Congress (APC) in the state with the government.APC, which was planning to sue the House of Assembly for its failure to invoke Section 199(2) by transiting power to the deputy governor, believed that the long absence of the governor had crippled government business in the state.

The statement by the governor’s aide read in part, “In the past couple of weeks, the APC in Taraba State has been orchestrating a campaign of hate and acrimony against the person and the administration of Governor Darius Dickson Ishaku, taking advantage of his prolonged stay in Abuja, which was necessitated by an unfortunate domestic accident he had earlier suffered. As a result, His Excellency has had to stay back in Abuja to receive medical attention.”

According to Abu, rather than show sympathy for the governor, APC leaders have taken advantage of the unfortunate development to invent and promote all kinds of inanities and outright falsehood against him.“Some of them have even gone to the ridiculously extent of suggesting that by staying behind in Abuja for medical attention, Governor Ishaku should be impeached…”

This is proof of how callous APC leaders in the state can be and the extent they can go in their quest for political power,” he said. Urging the people of state and their friends to ignore APC’s “campaign of falsehood”, he added that the governor was desirous of returning to the state and would do so when he recovers.

Optimistic that the governor would soon return to the state, his stay in Abuja, he noted, has not in any negative way affected the delivery of democracy dividends by his administration.“No aspect of governmental activities has suffered a setback as a result. All government projects are going on smoothly and government has continued to meet its obligations to contractors handling its projects, while progress is being monitored by appropriate government ministries.”