Residents of Taraba State, especially the major opposition political party, the All Progressives Congress (APC), have expressed worry over projects worth billions of naira that have been abandoned in Governor Agbu Kefas’s two years in office.
Speaking with LEADERSHIP during the weekend in Jalingo, Taraba State capital, the publicity secretary of the APC National Youths Vanguard Taraba State chapter, Rikwense Muri, accused the governor of prioritising self-luxury projects that benefit him and a few of his cabinet members in the last two years in office.
The opposition party’s worry is coming from the government’s persistent lamentations that the state lacks financial resources. Yet, it has engaged in multiple projects that have cost billions of naira and have not seen the light of the day even after his second year in office.
Muri said the governor prioritises the Suntai Airport in Jalingo for his personal and cabinet members’ trips, fast-tracked the completion of selected offices at TY Danjuma House (Government House)Jalingo and TY Danjuma House in (Taraba Govt. Lodge) Abuja, and recently commissioned TY Danjuma Lodge in Wukari, the governor’s hometown.
“How many people from the state are capable of paying a flight ticket of close to N200,000 from Jalingo to Abuja? The Namnai Bridge, which has been broken since seven months ago, has been abandoned by the governor. That is the road that common people suffer to cross on a daily basis. He has abandoned the bridge because he doesn’t drive on the road,” Muri stated.
The APC scribe pointed out that the governor has abandoned the reconstruction of Jalingo Trade Fair Complex, Construction of Jalingo Truck Park, Wukari International Yam Market, construction of Jalingo Abattoir, construction of Wukari Chinkai Road, commissioning of Jalingo Palliative Market and many other projects that have already consumed billions of naira while contractors have deserted the site for over six months ago.
Other residents who spoke to our correspondent added that the governor has abandoned all the promises he made to the people of the state during the 2023 gubernatorial campaigns, stating that the people are taking stock of the governor’s activities for record purposes.
Meanwhile, the governor has insisted that he has performed well in the last two years of his reign as the governor of Taraba State.
The special adviser to the governor on media and digital communications, Emmanuel Bello, in a press statement titled “2 years report card of Gov. Kefas,” said Governor Kefas has continued to run the state with humility, transparency, fear of God, and deep love for the people.
Bello said the governor is “hovering, brooding and rebuilding the neglected broken walls of the state including provision of security to residents of the state, free education, good governance, prompt payment of salaries, construction of road networks, construction of airport, provision of tractors to farmers and improvement of the health of the people,” Bello stated.
