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Tag: Taraba

Why Taraba PDP held primaries in Abuja – TMG

The Taraba Mandate Group (TMG) Wednesday explained why the Peoples Democratic Party in Taraba State held it primary election at the party’s headquarters, Wadata Plaza, Abuja.

The group rejected the sack of Governor Darius Dickson Ishaku by the Governorship Election Petition Tribunal on the ground that his party the PDP did not conduct a valid primary to produce him as candidate.

The tribunal headed by Justice Musa Danladi Abubakar had ruled that the candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC) Aisha Alhassan be sworn as governor.

The tribunal faulted the shift of the primary to Abuja.

But the Taraba Mandate Group said the shift of primary to Abuja was lawful and ought not to be a reasonable ground under the law to dismiss Ishaku from office.

Members of the Mandate group include: Damina Dauda, Esther Nadama Bitrus, Barr. Mohammed Akilu, Tersoo Philip and Yusuf Adamu Gassol.

The group said the primary was held in Abuja because of the tension that was in the state.

It said: “Sensing danger, the PDP headquarters agreed that the best thing to do was to wade into the matter. Their solution was that neither of the controversial lists of delegates would be used. Rather, the statutory delegates lists made of party officials and elected officials of state would be used.

“Abuja too would be the venue as Jalingo was already tensed up. Other states like Adamawa were also asked to conduct their primaries in Abuja. It was strictly a party affair as even the court ruled.

Eventually, the statutory delegates arrived Abuja and the primaries held at the Wadata Plaza-headquarters of the PDP under the watchful supervision of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) and party officials.

“How the APC got an official of INEC to testify in court that primaries did not hold is not hard to fathom: INEC is romancing the party in power.”

November 18, 2015
Heavy rain stops Wolves vs Taraba

Heavy rainfall which left the Warri Township Stadium pitch waterlogged has forced the League Management Company (LMC) to postpone a Week 38 game between Warri Wolves and FC Taraba.

The game will now be played this morning. The new kick off time is 8am.

Taraba are relegated to the Nigeria National League (NNL) already, while Wolves are battling for the second CAF Champions League ticket after Enyimba emerged champions.

November 16, 2015
Taraba confirms Sambo as Kpanti Zingelect Jalingo

The Taraba Government yesterday announced Alhaji Suleiman Sambo as the Kpanti Zing-elect to succeed late Alhaji Abass Sambo who died in the 2015 Hajj stampede in Mecca.

Alhaji Bello Yero, the Permanent Secretary, Bureau for Local Government and Chieftaincy Affairs, told reporters in Jalingo that the confirmation followed Sambo’s election by the 22 king makers of the Zing kingdom.

Sambo, according to him, polled 22 votes to defeat four other candidates who each got got no vote.

He named the other contestants as Alhaji Muhammed Tumba, Alhaji Abdu Kombranko, Malam Dahiru Kombranko and Alhaji Abubakar Kombranko.

The permanent secretary said the final pronouncement and coronation would soon be done by Gov Darius Ishaku after due consultation with the Taraba Traditional Council.

He urged the people of Zing to remain law-abiding and cooperate with the new chief to enhance development in the area.

November 7, 2015
Taraba were unlucky against El Kanemi-Huan

John Huan Aondongu has mused that FC Taraba were downbeat to concede an equaliser to Elkanemi Warriors, even as he concedes the team were made to work.

Sunday evening saw the hosts surrender their slender lead having dominated possession for larger spells in the tension-soaked encounter.

“Elkanemi were very strong with the ball, they were very comfortable in the closing stages,” Huan has conceded to News24 this week.

“They also had to come back into the game after our goal at the start and they demanded a lot. We worked a lot, created much danger but we were somehow unlucky not to have killed the game earlier.

“No doubt they moved the ball much from one wing to the other. That required much of us in the middle.

“We were comfortable and created chances. We worked hard, and we are sad about the goal that we did concede.

“I’m still yet to believe that we drew the match but there are lots of positives to take for the future.”

“What was missing? Luck! We weren’t lucky after putting much efforts into the game,” he explained.

October 2, 2015
Taraba tribunal sacks senator

The Taraba State Election Petition Tribunal in Jalingo yesterday sacked Senator Bashir Marafa representing Taraba Central.

It declared the senatorial candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Yusuf Abubakar Yusuf, winner of the election.

Delivering judgment on the petition by Yusuf, the three-man panel unanimously agreed that Marafa of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) was not the winner of the poll held on March 28.

The tribunal Chairman, Justice Samson Angor, ruled that the petitioner proved that the first respondent (Marafa) was not elected by the majority of the electorate.

The tribunal observed that the dispute in the case was on the way and manner the results were collated and not on the conduct of the election.

It said the votes in the election were swapped in favour of the PDP candidate, adding that the APC standard-bearer would have won had the collation of results properly done.

The tribunal gave the final result of the Taraba Central poll as: APC-66,097 votes; LP-455; PDP-64,356 and SDP-33,489 votes.

It ordered the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to issue a Certificate of Return to Yusuf and retrieve the one given to Marafa.

“The petitioner polled the highest number of votes as against those of the first respondent (PDP’s candidate).

“The evidence presented by the petitioner’s lawyer showed that votes were swapped and the results were not entered appropriately.

“The earlier declaration by INEC in favour of the first respondent should be set aside,” said Ibrahim Yusuf, another member of the tribunal.

Counsel to the sacked senator, Yusufu Akirikwen, said his client would appeal the ruling.

APC Chairman Jika Hassan Ardo hailed the judgment.

He said: “Justice delayed is not justice denied. Justice has been done. The judiciary has once again demonstrated that it is the last hope of the common man.”

October 1, 2015
Taraba tribunal sacks Senator Marafa

The Taraba State election petition tribunal sitting in Jalingo –the state capital yesterday sacked Senator Bashir Marafa who is representing Central Taraba district.
The tribunal declared the senatorial candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC) Yusuf Abubakar Yusuf as winner of the 2015 Central Taraba election.
Delivering judgment on the petition filed by Yusuf, the three man panel unanimously agreed that Marafa of the PDP was not the actual winner of the election which took place on March 28.
Chairman of the tribunal Justice Samson Angor ruled that the litigant was able to successfully prove that the first respondent (Marafa) was not actually elected by the majority of the electorate.
The tribunal observed that the dispute in the case was on the way and manner the results were collated and not on the conduct of the election.
The tribunal said the votes in the election were swapped in favour of the PDP candidate. It added that the APC candidate would have triumphed in the election had the collation of results were properly and effectively done.
The tribunal gave the final result of the Central Taraba senatorial election as: APC-66,097 votes, LP-455, PDP-64,356, PDP-64,356 and SDP-33,489 votes.
The tribunal panel ordered the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to urgently issue the Certificate of Return to the APC’s Yusuf and retrieve the one earlier given to Senator Marafa.
“The petitioner scored the highest number of votes as against that of the first respondent (PDP candidate) who was declared senator for the zone.
“The evidence presented by the petitioner’s lawyer clearly shows that votes were swapped and the results were not entered appropriately.”
“The earlier declaration by INEC in favour of the first respondent should be set aside,” said Ibrahim Yusuf, another member of the tribunal.
Counsel to the sacked senator, Yusufu Akirikwen said his client will appeal the ruling.
Taraba State Chairman of APC, Jika Hassan Ardo applauded the judgment. He said: “Justice delayed is not justice denied. Justice has been done. The judiciary has once again demonstrated that it is the last hope of the common man.”

September 30, 2015
Taraba: Ten killed in Fulani/Tiv fresh crisis

No fewer than ten persons were Tuesday killed in a fresh communal clash between Fulani and Tiv indigenes of Taraba state.

Three people were also reported missing in the resurgence of violence which took place in Serkin Gudu, Ibi local government area.

Hostilities started when the body of a Fulani man who had been declared missing by his relatives was found dead in a bush between Serkin Gudu and Dooshima villages of Ibi.

A Fulani source accused Tiv of being responsible for the death of their kinsman, whose corpse was recovered by the Nigerian army personnel posted to quell communal uprisings in the area.

The source added that the “gory sight” of the deceased Fulani man infuriated the Fulani community who went for a reprisal attack on the Tiv community killing nine in separate attacks.

Taraba State Police spokesman Joseph Kwaji, an Assistant Superintendent of Police (ASP), confirmed the violence to The Nation, saying nine Tiv persons were killed in a retaliatory attack by an unidentified Fulani man.

Kwaji said: “The information I have here is that, a Fulani man was killed when his cows feasted on farm crops belonging to a Tiv man.

“An unidentified Fulani man, in a reprisal, killed nine Tivs.”

He said police were deployed to the area to maintain law and order, while making efforts to arrest the culprit.

But the Chairman of Tiv Culture and Social Organization in Ibi, Mkavga Orhembaga, an eye-witness, said among the nine killed, eight were Tiv while one an origin of Plateau state.

“Eight Tiv persons were attacked and massacred in the afternoon while working on their farms.

“Another person, a teacher from Plateau State who teaches in one of the primary schools in the troubled village was also killed by Fulani,” the Tiv Culture leader said.

“It was reported that a Fulani man was missing. So the army and his brothers went out to search for his whereabouts.

“Soon his body was found laying dead in the bush. The development angered the brothers of the deceased Fulani and the entire Fulani community.

“Angry with the Tiv people in the area, they picked up arms against them. It was in the afternoon when Tiv people were in their farms that they attacked them and killed eight in the process.

“As I speak to you, three Tiv persons are still missing. We don’t know whether they are laying dead in the thick bushes or whether they are on the run.”

Tuesday killings were said to have baffled Governor Darius Dickson Ishaku, coming shortly after he had inaugurated a committee to return all crisis displaced persons, particularly Tiv, to their homes.

The governor also directed traditional rulers to keep watch on their subjects to avoid reoccurrence of any communal offensive within their respective domains.

Ishaku also said, in search of peace, he had held; “collaborative meetings with the governors of neighbouring Benue, Nasarawa and Plateau states, on the incessant inter-state border community clashes, spate of armed robbery and the clandestine ethnic killings.”

September 15, 2015
Flood kill scores in Taraba

Taraba state has gotten its share of flood disaster this year.

Scores of people and domestic animals have reportedly feared killed in a fierce havoc wreaked by the flood.

The most affected local government councils are Karimlamido and Lau.

The flood was caused by heavy torrential downpour, even as the people are yet to witness the release of water from a Cameroon dam.

A House of Assembly member from Karimlamido, Edward Baraya, confirmed reports of the flood disaster and deaths, but was not certain about the casualty figure.

The council caretaker Chairman of Karimlamido Idi Danfulani also said many residents were reported killed in his council but he does not know the exact number of those killed.

In Lau, many buildings shook in their foundations while farm crops and some houses and vehicles were submerged.

Governor Darius Dickson Ishaku is said to have directed all chairmen of the affected councils to forward reports of flood disaster in their domains to the Bureau for Local Government and Chieftaincy Affairs.

Caretaker Chairman of Lau, Nelson Banker was seen submitting his Flood Report at the Bureau Friday.

Danfulani of Karimlamido told The Nation he would be touring his entire council today, to take detailed statistics of the lives lost and property destroyed by the flood.

Taraba is one of the states that witnessed devastating floods that wreaked havoc on people, houses, animals and farmlands in 2012.

The National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) had in a recent sensitisation workshop in Jalingo -the Taraba State capital, warned of a possible flood disaster. It identified some vulnerable communities that could experience flood disaster.

NEMA Head of Operation Appolos Jediel had identified Lau, Shomo, Garin-Dogo, Kunini, Donadda, Bwai, Ibi, Njibu, Donga, and Takum as vulnerable communities in Taraba Northern and Southern zones.

NEMA also warned of the possible release of water from the Lagdo dam from neighboring Cameroon.

With the rains in peak and water anticipated to be released from the Cameroon dam, residents of Taraba’s flood prone areas have been living in fears.

Local boats and canoes are being used to convey affected persons particularly children and old people to safer areas.

September 11, 2015
Taraba governor flags off power plant

Taraba State Governor Darius Ishaku has flagged off the Tunga Dam hydroelectric power plant.

The fanfare event took place on the Mambilla Plateau in Sardauna Local Government Area.

The Tunga Dam power plant is different from the multi-billion naira Mambilla Hydroelectric Dam project which is to generate 3050 megawatts of electricity when completed.

The small hydro-electric power plant, the first project to be commissioned by the Ishaku administration, is to provide 400 Kilowatts of electricity to the Kakara Highland Tea Factory and the villages around its catchment area.

The power plant has been jointly constructed by the United Nations Industrial Development Organisation (UNIDO), United Nations High Commission for Refugee (UNHCR) and the Taraba State Government. The project was initiated by the immediate past governor Danbaba Suntai and Ishaku when the new governor was Minister of State for Power.

Ishaku said, “The power plant is the key to my rescue mission in Taraba State.”

The project is to employ thousands of indigenous people and is geared towards “enhancing economic activities of the people of Mambilla Plateau.”

The UNHCR representative to Nigeria and ECOWAS, Angele Dikongue-Atangana explained through a representative that the project was put in place to improve the living standard of over 10,000 Nigerians that the commission repatriated from Cameroon in 2001, who were residing in the area.

At least 50,000 people including 6,000 tea farmers in the community depend on the Kakara tea factory for survival. Whereas the fertile soil and temperate climate of the plateau favour tea production in the area, the absence of a steady source of power has prevented the tea firm from peak production. The factory’s equipment, including its tea processor, are obsolete, The Nation learnt.

Head of the UNIDO Regional Office Abuja, Chuma Ezedinma said the organisation was happy to be part of the success story of using micro and small hydroelectric power to support productive activities in the state.

He disclosed that the regional office of UNIDO has discovered over 200 potential hydro power sites in Nigeria that were ready for development.

Governor Ishaku pledged the commitment of the state government in partnering with UN to build additional power plants that would supply electricity to more communities on the plateau and the state. “The area is endowed with adequate waterfalls that can be converted to hydro-power,” he said.

The Mambilla Plateau, rising to a breathtaking 1,840 meters above sea level, is one of the greatest tourist destinations in Africa and has one of the best climatic conditions in the country.

Ishaku said electricity supply will boost socio-economic development on the plateau in many ways, including tourism and sports.

The natives were urged to jealously protect the project from vandals, and above all, sustain peace in the area for massive development.

Many dignitaries attended the commissioning, including Deputy Governor Haruna Manu, House of Assembly Speaker Abel Peter Dial, former SSG Gebon Kataps, chairmen of local government councils and traditional rulers.

August 25, 2015
Taraba Guber: Tribunal admits 10 APC witnesses on oath

The Taraba Governorship Election Petition Tribunal sitting in Abuja on Friday admitted 10 APC party agents as witnesses on oath.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the party agents appeared as witnesses in a suit filed by the APC Governorship Candidate, Sen. Aisha Alhassan, who is seeking to nullify the election of Gov. Darius Ishaku of PDP.

Justice Musa Abubakar, the tribunal Chairman, at the resumed hearing, admitted the 10 witnesses presented by Mr. Mahmud Abubakar (SAN), Counsel to the petitioner, and adjourned to August 22, for continuation of hearing.

However, the witnesses were examined by Abubakar (SAN), counsel to Alhassan, Kanu Agabi (SAN), counsel to Ishaku; Solo Akuma (SAN), counsel to PDP, and Abayomi Akanmode, counsel to INEC.

The 10 witnesses are Haruna Ahmed, Yinusa Ahmed, Yohanna Calvin, Riman Tsokwa, Idris Ayuba, Akanta Chinda, Adamu Mohammed, Jinadu Suleiman, Aminu Aliyu and Ahmed Usman.

The agents told the tribunal that they presided over polling units at Takum, Lau and Ibi local government areas of the state.

They all affirmed on oath that there were irregularities in the April 11 gubernatorial polls in Taraba.

According to the 10 witnesses, they had submitted a written complain to the Registry at Jalingo on May 15.

Mr Haruna Ahmed, from Kofar Dogo ward in Takum, said he refused to sign polling unit result sheets because they were “partially mutilated’’, “squeezed’’ and in “dirty forms’’.

“The election at my polling unit was not properly conducted going by the result I saw on the INEC EC8A forms; they were marred with over voting,’’ said the witness.

Ahmed also told the tribunal that the accreditation of voters was done by INEC manually and with the card reader machine.

On his own part, Mr Riman Tsokwa of Takun Constituency 1, told the tribunal that he mentioned the name of his unit presiding officers in his witness statement on oath.

“The election was free but not fair; it was marred with irregularities, if the areas that are marred with irregularities are checked my candidate (Alhassan) stands elected,’’ Tsokwa said.

Similarly, Mr Yinusa Ahmed, an agent with Garin Sarki unit in Lau, told the tribunal that though APC is a new party in Taraba it is popular.

He further told the tribunal that it was announced to them by the INEC officials that APC scored 89 votes in his unit.

August 21, 2015