Taraba Facts

The residential home of the former governor of Taraba State, Danbaba Danfulani Suntai, has been burnt by fire. The incident, which started around 6:43pm yesterday, destroyed several household items. Confirming the incident, the former chief press secretary to ex-governor Suntai, Alhaji Hassan Mijinyawa, told LEADERSHIP that he was yet to ascertain the cause of the fire incident. “When I had about the incident, I quickly rushed to the house to confirm what led the fire outbreak, but nobody has been able to tell the cause of the fire,” he said. Meanwhile, a resident of the area who spoke to our correspondent lamented the fire outbreak, saying the occupants of the house should have been proactive in preventing such incident. “We all know of the problem Suntai has been facing; it is not good to say there are people in the house and this kind of incident would occur,” he said. LEADERSHIP recall that the gutted house was acquired on his behalf by the present government which is ...

Pensioners Taraba pension saga. Mr. H.D is a retired Local Government Civil Servant. He served the primary health care for 35 years and retired as an Assistant Director. He was not been paid his pension after retiring from service for 2 long years. When his pension finally started being paid, his 2 years pension arrears was never paid to him. When he asked of his pension arrears, he was told it will be paid together with his gratuity.  It’s been 5 years now and he has not been paid his gratuity because the people at the pension board presume that the State has not been allocated the pensioners’ funds. He was told that even when they do, his name will have to be on the waiting list but if he can pay a certain percentage of his entire entitlement, they might be able to move his name up the list. It is either that or he can wait until God intervenes in the matter. Here’s another case. E.Y is a graduate of the University of Maiduguri residing in J...

Following the air crash that involved former governor Danbaba Suntai, there was the emergence of what became known as the Taraba cabal of which was involved in a power tussle; can you tell us about the cabal and what has become of it? I have heard people talk about the cabal in Taraba I don’t think the cabal is any mysterious group. Initially it had to do with some gladiators or principal actors in Taraba politics who claimed to share a common aspiration, goal or agenda that came together to pursue an interest that was political. I know them by the tip of my fingers because I was once with them. I was a member of the cabal and we were all working together holding meetings in several locations and different times essentially on how to move Taraba forward and galvanize the kind of development that Taraba people expect. Unfortunately personal ambitions took over the fundamental focus of the cabal. Those of us who didn’t agree with the new principle; who felt the cabal was derailing...

Miyetti Allah Cattle Breeders Association, has called for reconciliatory meeting between the Fulani, Jukun and Tiv to ensure peaceful co-existence in Taraba. The National President of the association, Alhaji Mohammadu Zuru, made the call on Saturday in Jalingo at the swearing-in of the state and zonal executives of the association. He said that dialogue was critical in resolving the perennial crises between the three ethnic groups in the state. “The only short-term solution to these incessant crises is an extended dialogue between all the ethnic groups concerned. The truth is that there is no crisis between the Fulani, Jukun and Tiv; but there is crisis between the criminal elements in all these ethnic groups. “Our position is that when all of us are engaged in dialogue under the supervision of the state government, the crises will end,” he said. Zuru appealed to government at all levels to demarcate cattle routes and grazing reserves across the country to forestall the...

e Nigerian Army has arrested six suspects over the ongoing communal crisis in Ibi Local Government Area of Taraba. Lt.-Col. Chima Egemole, the Commanding Officer of the 93 Battalion, Takum, paraded the suspects and arms and ammunitions recovered, before journalists in Takum on Sunday. Egemole disclosed that two peace meetings were held in Ibi recently as directed by the military high command but the rampaging youths turned deaf ears and continued to forment trouble in the area. “Prior to the most recent incident on Friday, two peace meetings were held in Ibi within the same week with a view to finding amicable solution to the crisis but it seems the miscreants are bent on going on with the with crisis. “It took the prompt intervention of troops and other security agents to restore normalcy in the area”, he said. The commanding officer said a 24-hour curfew had been imposed on Ibi while manhunt for the remaining hoodlums was in progress. Egemole, who explained that the Chief o...

Taraba state government has returned over one hundred Cattle that were stolen by unidentified gunmen to the original owners at Seseni village in Bali local government area of Taraba state. The one hundred and nineteen cattle were reported to have been stolen at gun point at Senseni village two weeks ago while the shepherd, Muhamed Yahaya was also reportedly killed by the cattle rustlers in the process. According to an eyewitness, who spoke to Vanguard, the cattle rustlers were carrying sophisticated arms. “They were carrying heavy arms, they were also hostile in their approaches, we the passers-by have to run for our lives because of the way the cattle rustlers were behaving,” he told Vanguard but did not give his name due to security reasons. Presenting the stolen cattle to the original owners at Senseni village yesterday, the Special Adviser to Governor Darius Ishaku on security matters Wunuken Angyu said the cattle were recovered from the cattle rustlers due to instructions f...

Doctors attend to a Lassa fever patient Seven suspected Lassa fever patients on admission  at the Federal Medical Centre in Jalingo, capital of Taraba State have vanished. Dr Aisha Sani, the Chairperson, Lassa Fever Committee at the medical  centre disclosed this  today, saying that government is making frantic efforts to arrest the suspects. “Seven persons had absconded. We are making frantic efforts to arrest and bring them back to the hospital before they infect others with the disease. “We have our internal securities here, but the truth is that we need more to secure the Lassa fever unit,” Sani said. So far, the deadly Lassa fever has claimed 14 lives in the state  from January to date. About 80 people have died in Nigeria, overall. According to Aisha, of the 49 suspected cases of the disease reported in the hospital, 21 persons were treated and discharged. The doctor said laboratory test had so far confirmed four cases...

The Police Service Commission (PSC) has warned that there would be no short-cut into the Nigeria Police Force in the recruitment of 10,000 personnel. President Muhammadu Buhari had in 2015 approved the recruitment of 10,000 policemen at the National Security Summit in Abuja. In a statement Wednesday, Ikechukwu Ani, Head, Press and Public Relations of the commission, told journalists that Mike Okiro, Chairman of the commission, gave the warning while unveiling a portal for the exercise in Abuja. The statement said that the portal would be opened to the public on April 1 to herald the commencement of the exercise. “The process leading to the recruitment of 10,000 Policemen as directed by President Muhammadu Buhari at the National Security Summit in Abuja last year, has commenced,” the statement said. It said the unveiling of the portal was in actualisation of the presidential directive on the recruitment of the 10,000 Policemen. The statement noted that the exercise was r...

Taraba State Governor, Arch. Darius Dickson Ishaku today swore in  two High Court Judges and one Khadi.. Governor Ishaku, while swearing in the new Justices at the Exco Chambers of the Government House,Jalingo, described the event as critical and significant due to the fundamental role of the judiciary in stabilizing the polity and rendering justice to the society. He stated that, the appointments of  Dauda Njenne Buba, Ali Bappa Abbare and Badamosi Aliyu Muhammed  was purely based on merit having been nominated, screened and approved by both State and National Judicial Service Commission. He expressed optimism that the three Justices will uphold and abide strictly by the tenets of the Judiciary,according to the laws of the land devoid of nepotism and all forms of prejudice and ensure quick dispensation of justice. Accordingly, the Governor said by the powers conferred on him by section 271, sub section 2 of 1999 Con...

The Federal Medical Center Jalingo  in Taraba state has confirmed the death of five more persons  as a result of suspected cases of Lassa fever virus.   The additional deaths bring the number of  persons that have died in the state as a result of   Lassa fever to 12.     The Head of Clinical Services  in the center, Dr.   Attah Iliya, also disclosed that  44  suspected cases were received at the center out of which four  were confirmed to be Lassa fever. He also said that seven patients suspected to have contracted the virus have disappeared from the hospital.   Dr Attah said effort was being made to trace the patients and bring them back for treatment.   He disclosed that 19 Lassa fever patients were treated and clinically confirmed free of the fever in the center. Earlier on January 5, the center  confirmed that  of three persons died  as a result ofthe fever. - h...

The chairman of Taraba State chapter of the Nigerian Labour Congress (NLC), Comrade Gambo Peter,  has disclosed that the state government was owing retired civil servants  over N11 billion pension and gratuity arrears. He told Daily Trust in an interview that state civil servants and local government workers that retired from service in 2015 were yet to get their gratuity and pension benefits. Comrade Peter said the non-payment had caused social trauma and economic hardships that had led to the death of some of the retirees. Comrade Peter therefore called on the state government to pay the retired civil servants their benefits in order to reduce the hardship they were facing.