Taraba: Governor Ishaku Dead Or Alive?

By Fola James

For more than 80 days, Darius Ishaku has been absent from his duty post as the governor of Taraba state.

During this long absence, however, the governor has made 90 appointments into the state’s public service.

Most of these appointees, the magazine learnt now work from Abuja, where the state’s helmsman is said to be lying critically ill, as a result of injuries he sustained on January 3, 2018 at Garba Chede axis, along Bali-Jalingo road area of the state.

Governor Ishaku escaped death even though one of his aides lost his life in the accident.

Since then, the governor has not been frequenting state’s functions, raising suggestions that the accident may have left him incapable of performing his duties as governor.

The governor has refused to hand-over power to his deputy as his aides insist that governance has not suffered in the face of his absence.

Senior Special Assistant to the governor on Media and Publicity, Bala Abu said the governor can rule from anywhere and has not breached any law.

Abu said “The said section of the Constitution 190(2) speaks of a transmission of power only when the Governor proceeds on vacation or is otherwise unable to discharge the functions of his office.

In 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.

Government activities are not at a standstill. Governor Ishaku has not breached any part of the Constitution.”

Governor Ishaku“remains focused and irrevocably committed to peace and the socio-economic development of Taraba State,” Abu said.

The state had faced a similar constitutional crisis in the past when the late Governor Danbaba Suntai, refused to transmit power to his deputy after sustaining serious brain injuries in a plane crash, which kept him away from office for many months.

Worried by his long absence which has obviously slowed down governance in the agrarian state, Tarabans, especially the youths are demanding for his resignation if he’s not capable of performing his duties as governor.

Pending when he will recover from his undisclosed ailment, the governor, his people said, should transmit power to his deputy as required by the constitution.

In a statement released on Tuesday by the Arewa Youth Assembly, the youths alongside civil society bodies in the state demanded that the governor should act according to the constitution on the matter.

Ahmed Abdulmalik, the Publicity Secretary of the assembly said the call became necessary because the governor had been absent for too long.

He lamented that the governor’s absence is affecting the day-to-day running of the state, adding that governance has now been shifted to Abuja.

Should Governor Ishaku fails to transmit power in the next few days the youths said they will shut down the state with protest.

The aggrieved youths also threatened to take their protest to Abuja, the nation’s capital to register their annoyance to President Muhammadu Buhari and the National Assembly.

We are ready “to state our stand on this matter and register our grievances for them to act,” the Arewa youth stated.

Accordingly, “We will also hold another peaceful protest in Jalingo in front of the Taraba House of Assembly to compel them to do their duty as one arm of government. Not as puppet to the state governor.

We are calling on Nigeria Governors Forum, Northern Governors Forum, Northern Elders Forum, Arewa Consultative Forum, NANS, NYCN, Activists, Youth Organisations, all other notable Northern groups, well-meaning Nigerians, Democracy Crusaders, and media among others to come out and join us in the fight in keeping and preserving our nascent democracy.”