By; NICHOLAS DEKERA, Kaduna
Residents of Taraba State on Thursday, described the national honour conferred on Governor Darius Ishaku as, Commander of the Order of the Niger (CON) , as an encouragement for a failed Nigeria.
Residents who spoke to our correspondent in Jalingo, insisted that the governor, after seven years in office, only succeeded getting married four of his children.
Hon. Sani Ayuba, Obadiah Agbu and Garba Mahmud Garba both said the national award conferred on Governor Ishaku is a mistake that is capable of encouraging underdevelopment that may lead to a failed Nigeria and appealed to President Muhammadu Buhari to withdraw the honour.
“Governor Ishaku does not merit the national honour award, he is the least performing governor in Nigeria and his achievement within the last seven years is getting married four of his children.
“Taraba has never been this bad until 2015 to this movement, where almost every working institution that were bringing revenue to the government is dead.
“The governor doesn’t even stay in the state to know the plight of the people, he comes into the state only for two functions, which are, to get the state House of Assembly’s nod to borrow and to take charge of the federal government’s monthly subvention to the state.
“Taraba State’s debt profile has risen to over 200bn as against 56bn before 2015. We don’t know what the governor has done with all the monies he borrowed. The 191kms of rural road projects embarked by the governor since 2015 are still yet to be completed and some of the roads are not even up to 30 per cent completion.
“The only completed project of the governor in the state is the Green House, which has already gone moribund since 2020 with 200 staff of the project automatically disengaged.
“The state water project that the governor has been bragging of is a Word Bank assisted programme. We wish to appeal to president Buhari to withdraw the honour on Governor Ishaku for the interest of good governance in Nigeria,” they suggested.
But while responding to the citizens call against the governor, Mr. Bala Dan Abu, Special Adviser to the Governor on Media and Publicity said, those challenging the national honour on the governor are ungrateful citizens.
Dan Abu explained that the infrastructure revolution of the governor in the state earned him the position in President Buhari’s search for developmental minded Nigerians for the award.
