By Fola James
Governor Darius Ishaku has hurried back to Jalingo, the Taraba state’s capital, three days after the magazine wrote a story on his disappearance from the state for more than 80 days.
In its Tuesday, March 17 edition, the magazine wrote a story titled Taraba: Governor Ishaku Dead or Alive?” where it enumerated the concerns of the good people of the agrarian state, over the long absence of their governor.
On his return to the state today, the governor said he had to return to dispel rumour about his death.
He stated that he was involved in a domestic accident that kept him away from his duty post.
According to him, the accident which occurred in his house on December 22, 2019 while he was climbing upstairs in the night made him to relocate to Abuja for treatment.
He said “For those who saw me before I left Jalingo on the 22nd of December last year will admit that I was actually limping.
I had a domestic accident when I was climbing stairs around 8pm when the light in my house went off, I hit my leg and roll down the staircase.”
I was not dead. “People were making a mockery of me and it so unfortunate, some said I was dead, others said I was cripple, some even said I am vegetable but the greatest out of it all is that today, I am here with you alive.
Because I am a governor doesn’t mean I can’t fall sick, I am a governor and I am also a human being, I can be sick, and I can as well seek for medication at the appropriate time,” he said.
He stated that the state has remained on course despite his absence.
“For those who were reporting that because I was in the state nothing was working, let them go out there and see the ongoing duarization of the Jalingo township road, the same is ongoing at Mararaba, Abong to Tayaka road, all these constructions started when I was not in town,” Ishaku said.
Taraba youths under the aegis of Arewa Youths Assembly and civil society groups in the state, the magazine quoted, threatened to shut the state down if the state’s helmsman did not return to his duty post.
The governor left the state for Abuja, since last December, after a motor accident and has not returned to the state for close to 90 days, the youths said, insisting that he handed over to his deputy pending when he fully recovered to govern the state.
Within this period, Governor Ishaku made over 80 appointees, who assist him in running the government from Abuja, the nation’s capital.
But the youths insisted that the absentee governor cannot be running the state through proxies.
Meanwhile, the magazine learnt that jubilation has rented the air in Jalingo, the capital following Governor Ishaku’s return.
Happy residents told the magazine that they are glad to have their governor back.
