Sir, can you tell us what really kept you out of Taraba for this long?

I fell ill on 22 December 2019 in Abuja and those who were with me saw that I was limping, I had an accident in the house, I fell down from the staircase, I broke my leg and I didn’t know so I have to go for surgery outside the country and later came back to Abuja to recover fully, and speculations started filtering out some said I am dead, some said I am crippled while some described me as vegetable but you can see me talking today, I am sound even though not completely healed but I am ok and my doctor has agreed that I should travel today that is why I am here, not as if my staying away was deliberate, for the fact that I am a governor that does not make me a super human, I made a mistake by running up my steps in the house and the took off the light at 8. pm and I fell and I rolled down, and that created the crises for me which I never anticipated, accident can happen to anybody, anytime and anywhere so I am surprise that some of you glorify it and start singing it, those that help? I want to thank my deputy, Eng. Haruna Manu for holding fort for me, the members of the executives, the legislatures who did not only supported me but also passed a vote of confidence on me this is the power of unity and also the judiciary and the security outfits, the military, the police, the civil defence, all of them have performed wonderfully well because the rate of crime has reduced unlike what some of you journalists are reporting that I wasn’t in the state nothing is working in the state, it’s a lie, the dualization of road from Pantinapu Jalingo Mayorenu road is ongoing, the Marana Baisa kan-Iyaka is also going on smoothly despite the fact that I am not in the state every was going on normal, I gets update every day from my deputy, so I thank everyone who came out to welcome me, I want to assure you people that even when I was not in the state everything was moving smoothly, this is a marvelous welcome they have prepared for me, I am very grateful indeed, I want Tarabans to also know that I am healing very speedily and I thanked everyone who has prayed for my recovery.

One of the great jobs you did while you were in Abuja was the flagging off the sensitization of the commencement of work on the Mambila Hydro power project, considering the importance of that project to Tarabans and Nigerians at large, what word of assurance will you give Tarabans on when the work will commence?

The Mambila Hydro power project is the project of the federal government and I want to correct some of you who reported that I am part of those delaying the project, the project is belonging to federal government but, the federal government cannot execute this project alone without the supports of the state government , and it may interest you to know that we have fashioned out everything in this second coming of President Buhari, with the ministry, the ministry send monies for the surveyors and I am to disburse this money, but I noticed that there are some technicalities involved in it, you don’t touch governments money without due process, I was getting pressure to pay these people the money even when we have not due process it, and when they have not even gone to side, the only surveyor we got was the one that has the higher equipment to use air planes and some drums and as we talk now, he has moved to the side, we have met already in Abuja, and let me educate you to know that the Mambila Hydro power plan will take us 8 years if we are lucky for it to be completed because there are stages you go, what we are doing now is just the stage one and there are 8 steps to go, even the road leading to the hydro Mambila power, I am the one building it now from Mararaba –Baisa to Abong .

I have awarded and people are working there, I have briefed the minister and he was very happy about that, so what the federal government needs to do is to connect or allow me to connect from Abon to Kan-Iyaka then to Ngoroje, because that’s the only way they can get there or how can they get to the side? you can’t access that side except you go on foot, the Chinese were taken there 3 months ago to the side after that, there are stages of enumeration, there is stages for relocation, there is stages of proper placement that is where we are going to relocate the people settling in the side to, a lot of work has to be done first, you can’t seats here in Jalingo and write that governor Ishaku is frustrating the federal government efforts, the truth is that we have started work, and we in Taraba State are collaborating with the federal ministry of works, we are going up and also hoping that we will get to the stages of relocation and you know relocation means you moving human being away from their ancestral homes, more than 150 thousand people we estimated need to be relocated, that is not a joke, in five local governments we need to do sensitization first, because some people will not even agree to move from their ancestral homes they will tell you their grandfathers owns the place and of course that is where the dams are laying on their villages, we have to take them to higher altitude, we have to innumerate them, compensate them, just as I told the federal government that the chickens that lays the golden eggs must to eat out of it, we won’t relocate our people from village to the bush, we will relocate them from village to town where there will be water, where there will be health care, where there will be electricity, where there will be decency so that the result will be that they are living in the area of the 3050 megawatts, them too will be enjoying from the power and are living in a better place, I Darius Dickson Ishaku will not allow the federal government do what happened in Kainji Dam where the power is being evacuated and sent to Lagos, it was when I was the minister that I had to drop down for them power in the kainji town, it’s unfortunate, I won’t allow that mistake here, yes my people will move they are ready to cooperate with the government 100 percent.

You are coming in when the coronavirus is becoming a global issue and most states in Nigeria are taking drastic measures to prevent the out brake in their states, what is Taraba doing with your team to ensure the prevention and cure of people of Taraba State?

Well, yesterday we had a meeting of the Governors Forum, we all have agreed to go to our various states to sensitize our people on the coronavirus, the first thing is that no hand shake, if you want to greet, do as the Indians do, clap the two hands from afar, so we will start with that and we have pleaded with the federal government to help us station a testing Centre in each state and the minister enlighten us, already in Taraba we have a place reserved for infectious diseases like that, if you go to Lankaviri you will see a place mainly for that, what we need now is the testing equipment, if somebody has a problem now, you have to take the blood sample all the away to Lagos for it to be tested, we must take preventive measures and I have lies with my commissioner of health and my team to make sure Taraba is not counted among the state with record of coronavirus, yes that’s my earnest prayer, because coronavirus is a new virus, it’s unfortunate that is spreading round the whole world, we have done our best and by God’s grace, Taraba will never record even one case. (Daily Independent)

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