Ishaku’s 365 days in Taraba: swallowing the bitter pills

By Rev. Fr. Charles Jabana

Last Saturday, just as I finished celebrating the evening mass it occur to me that the following day, Sunday, May 29, 2016, the administration of Arc. Darius Ishaku, the Executive Governor of Taraba state would be one year in office.

This happen when I was still in the sacristy. At about 10:30pm when I was about to retire to bed, a voice jostled in me repeatedly, a voice I consider the voice of God, urging me to give governor Ishaku a bitter pill to swallow on the occasion of his one year in office.

Your Excellency, I write first as a citizen of Taraba State and as a humble cleric with a message for you. The message which I believe your close associate will not want you to hear. I am not a politician because I am a Catholic priest; but I am political because I am a human being. Having observed with keen interest the political development in Taraba State from campaign period to date, I deem it necessary to write you at this time of stock taking for the past year.

I wish to first of all congratulate you on your first anniversary as the Executive Governor of Taraba State. I thank God for seeing you through the hurdles you passed through in the first half of your administration. I also congratulate you for the successful hosting of North-East congress of your party PDP at the end of which our State produced the chairman. More grease to your elbow.

When you fought your battle from the election time to the post-election court cases, the people of Taraba State stood by you. Their joy knew no bound when you were sworn in on May, 29th 2015. All of a sudden from nowhere we began to experience unprecedented power supply in the State capital. The rusted water pipes in Jalingo the state capital which had been lying dry for years miraculously burst with water reminiscent of the water that burst forth from the rock in the time of Moses.

One could read from the lively faces of the people a clear massage; “At last the messiah is here”.

In our Catholic newspaper Unity News I wrote an article titled, “Darius as a Metaphor” in which I compared Your Excellency to King Darius of the Bible whom God used to rebuild the temple of Jerusalem and grant religious freedom to the people of Israel. I concluded that perhaps God has called you to rebuild the broken temple of God in the crisis-ridden Southern and Central Taraba.

In your desire to rescue Taraba State from the shackles of poverty and underdevelopment, you have frequently called on the people of Taraba State to give you peace so that you can give them development. You set up a committee to restore peace in the affected areas. You told traditional rulers that you would not tolerate partisan involvement on their part.

To prove that you were not issuing out empty threats, you suspended some district heads from office. This was cheerful news for Tiv farmers who have been displaced for over two years.

Prior to your election, the Road Block – Kona road was a motorist’s nightmare; the potholes along that road had grown into “basin holes”. Efforts by previous Government to fix the road proved abortive. Now the road is a dual carriage way with standard drainage and culvert system, thanks to your administration.

From what I have heard, you intend to construct the road to Lau. Also thanks to your administration, there is now commercial flight from Jalingo to Abuja. Our people have been spared the hardship and risk of traveling all the way to Yola in order to board a plane. These and other projects not mentioned here have endeared you to the good people of Taraba State.

Your Excellency, I wish to draw your attention to something which if you consider favorably can earn you the Best Governor award. You need to reconsider your attitude toward the civil servants of the State. I have heard you say a few times that you cannot spend the bulk of the State’s revenue on 5% of the population referring to civil servants. If by this you mean you cannot pay civil servants their FULL salaries as and when due, then I am sorry to say that you got it wrong.

The reality on the ground seems to suggest that this is what you mean. Civil servants no longer receive full salary. Their salaries are deducted every month without any justifiable reason; the names of some are omitted from the payment list. This unfortunately is happening at the time when the economic situation of the country is becoming harsher by the day.

Your Excellency, you should know better than I do that civil servants have been employed to run the machinery of Government. Without them you will not have Taraba State. They are employed to be paid each based on his or her grade level. So to refer to them as a tiny percentage of the population who gulp a huge amount of the State’s allocation is a gross injustice. It is their inalienable right to be paid for the job they do.

It may interest Your Excellency to know that these civil servants are bread winners with many dependants. There is hardly any civil servant that spends his or her entire salary on himself or herself only. They form the enlightened segment of the society, who exerts enormous control over the largely illiterate population. Many of them played active role in teaching their illiterate relatives where to locate the umbrella party on the ballot paper and cast their vote for you.

To subject them to the untold hardship they are facing is not only unjust but also suicidal, especially as we look forward to your re-election in 2019. The recent political wind of change that blew in neighbouring Benue and Plateau States has sent a clear message that you cannot play with the salaries of workers and expect overwhelming votes on Election Day. Denying workers their full salaries is tantamount to robbing Peter to pay Paul. You might have succeeded in pleasing Paul but you have left Peter empty and cheated. Your Excellency, you will be the people’s Governor if you do all within your power to ensure that salaries are paid as and when due. You will not have to seek for second term; they will beg you for it.

Your Excellency, I received with dismay and disbelief news of your alleged involvement and meddling in the affairs of Christians Association of Nigeria (CAN) when they had their State election recently. You were said to have openly sponsored a CAN delegate from your village for the post of the State CAN Chairman.

Your Excellency, I remember it was you who told us at the Christian Center in Jalingo during the New Year combined service and at many other occasions that power comes from God. How manage do I hear that you now giraffe your neck into God’s house to allot power? It does not simply add up. Whoever advised you to do this is not a true friend. If this is true, I advise you to apologise to God and the religious body and make amends. It is certainly not the best way to pay CAN for the votes its members casted for you.

Your Excellency, I am not a politician but a pastor who live and work with the ordinary people. There are certain things I hear which your close political disciples will never tell you. I don’t know whether it’s true or not, if it is not true please ignore it. Some people feel that in your appointment of people into political and public office you favour your own people at the detriment of others. if you think this allegation is false, please ignore it and go ahead to do what it is for the interest of the State.

Others feel you are too conservative with the way you manage State resources. They say you do not release money and so there is no money in circulation. Whatever they mean by that, please look into it and take appropriate action.

Many still think that you travel too much. According to them, you hardly spend two weeks within the State and therefore hardly settle down to attend to the day to day business of governance. It was understood in the first half of the year that you were pursuing your electoral case. Now that the storm is over, the good people of the State expect you to be more stable and concentrate on the running of the State especially to be personally involved in the process of restoring peace in the areas affected by crisis.

As I congratulate you as you clock one year as the Executive Governor of Taraba State, please be aware of two things.  First always keep it in mind that there is God and conduct your affairs with the fear of God. Do what you know is right and just with clear conscience.

Secondly, know that there is 2019 General Election. Put the human person at the center of your development programmes because at the end of the day it is people that will vote for you. Consider every part of the State in your development programmes because when the chips are down, you are going to need the help of all parts of the State and all segments of the people.

Your Excellency, this is just your first year. You still have three years to go, which means there is still ample time left to sort out these issues and remain the people’s favourite governor. I do hope you will accept this as sincere and constructive observations and advice from a humble spiritual leader of our great State who means well for you.