The Taraba Coalition of Youth Leaders has described Saturday’s election tribunal judgment nullifying the election of Governor Dirus Ishaku as provocative. This was contained in a statement signed by the coordinators of the group, Mijinyawa Usman and Daniel Maikasuwa, in Abuja on Sunday. According to them, one of the cardinal roles of any true leader is the security of his people. This, they further argued, “makes it incumbent on any true leader not to sacrifice the life and property of his people for anything material or for power considerations.” The statement partly read:
“It is our belief that President Muhammadu Buhari is such a leader considering his antecedents. Although our dear President is a loyal party man, we don’t see him as a cut-throat politician bent on imposing anyone on a people.
“That is why we, the undersigned, are making this passionate appeal to His Excellency, the Commander- in-Chief. First, we wish to appeal to His Excellency to take more than a passing interest in the outcome of the tribunal judgment on the state governorship imbroglio.
“Your Excellency must have been properly briefed by now and would have noticed that this judgment, apart from being a travesty of justice, is an insult on the President’s sense of propriety and justice.”
They alleged that “even a child on the street knows” that Governor Darius Ishaku was unfairly treated. They argued that what transpired at the tribunal was a “serial robbery” of an uncommon kind.
“Who can forget that just recently in Benue State, Governor Samuel Ortom, who confessed he didn’t go through a primary is still now a governor. Is it because he belongs to the APC or what?” the group queried.
Members of the group also noted that since the judgment on Saturday, ancient fears and animosity had suddenly been revived in Taraba. However, a group of supporters of the All Progressives Congress candidate, Jummai Al-Hassan, while suing for peace, urged the people of the state to resist the temptation of being used by unscrupulous politicians to disrupt public peace. The spokesperson for the group of supporters, Ibrahim Suleiman, said:
“This is the time to work together to rebuild Taraba and not for people to threaten the peace.”