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… APC counters
By Sylvanus Viashima, Jalingo
Amid controversy surrounding the over eight months’ absence of the Taraba State deputy Governor, the State Governor, Agbu Kefas, has said that he has no hidden agenda in handling the situation.
The governor, who gave the clarification on Tuesday evening while addressing a press briefing, said that he is guided by laws of morality and “esprit de corps” rather than mere dependence on the constitution.
He noted that the deputy governor fell ill while serving the State and deserves all the moral support from the people for his quick recovery rather than unnecessary distractions.
The governor said that “I speak to you not just as your governor but as a human being who understands the need for being together. He fell ill while serving the State in active service. Laws are not enough. Morality and conscience must guide our actions.
“He served the State with loyalty, and in his moment of need, it is our duty to stand by him. I have no hidden agenda in the way I am handling this matter. As the governor, I have the power to do whatever I want and I can choose anybody to be my deputy. If I want to appoint a deputy, I have someone I can choose.
“If with time, I have to follow the constitution, we would do it the right way. For now, he needs our prayers and support. This could happen to anybody. Let us awaken our conscience. I will not allow Taraba State to kill my conscience. I’m not breaking any law by keeping my deputy. We can not remove morality from the Constitution. I don’t care about position. Even if I’m not governor in 2027, I don’t care,” he said.
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Some of the remarks by the governor at the briefing have sparked widespread criticism, especially when he referred to the State as a village.
The governor also said that he made more than 200 foreign trips before becoming the governor, and so those condemning his incessant foreign trips have no basis.
“I just checked my passports and discovered that I have over ten passports. I travelled more than 200 times before becoming the governor. You can not sit in this village and think anyone will come to invest here. In fact, when I tell people about Taraba, they often ask Where is Taraba State? This is a village, and my foreign trips attracted the people you saw at our State event recently”.
Meanwhile, the All Progressives Congress in Taraba State has criticised the governor’s handling of the deputy governor’s absence, saying it is not a personal issue but a constitutional matter that should be addressed constitutionally.
Aaron Artimas, State Publicity Secretary, APC Taraba State, in a statement issued in Jalingo on said that the governor swore an oath to uphold the constitution and not holy books, and his decision to ignore constitutional provisions in the guise of morality is a direct violation of the oath he took.
“In his speech, the governor towed the familiar path of moralising and personalising the issue by evoking religious sentiments to support the government’s inaction on the matter. While the APC and other Tarabans truly sympathise with the Deputy Governor over his subsisting predicament, we strongly insist that exposing him to wild insinuations and speculations is not the best way to assist him at this difficult time.
“We hereby insist that the constitution did not envisage a situation whereby the Deputy Governor would stay away from office for a long time or indefinitely, otherwise it would not have made it mandatory or a condition to be included in the single ticket for the governorship election. The Deputy Governor, as the vice chairman of the State Executive Council, is neither idle nor a “spare tire”, in the sense some people are insinuating.
“We advise the State Government to engage the family of the Deputy Governor in an honest and sincere dialogue, and when it is apparent that he cannot fully perform his responsibilities, he should be allowed to resign honourably while the Government pays all his personal entitlements to enable him to continue his recovery in peace. As a mark of respect, his family or his immediate community may be allowed to nominate a replacement so as not to continue marginalising or shortchanging his immediate constituency in the process of governance,” the statement reads in part.
