Taraba Assembly Denies N1.5bn Inducement From Gov Kefas

Taraba State House of Assembly has denied media reports that it collected N1.5 billion bribe from the state governor, Agbu Kefas, to approve the request for N350 billion bond.
The members said they only received support from the governor.

Speaking with journalist on Friday, the spokesperson of the House, Mr Nelson Len said the allegations were not only far-fetched but baseless and a mere distraction, stating that instead the house members worked in collaboration with the state’s executive for the development of the entire state.

Len said the House approved the bond request after duly considering it and ascertaining that it was in the best interest of the state.

The house information chairman maintained that the governor does not need to bribe the House for the members to perform their constitutional responsibilities they are elected to perform.

“The state governor has been very supportive to the House, and this is reflective in our ability to do things for our various constituencies even when there is no provision for Constituency Project Allowances for members.

“What we do in our various constituencies cannot be tied to Constituency Projects, we can simply say that the governor in his way has been supportive and we should also reciprocate by giving him our maximum support for the development of our state.

“When people say that the House is a rubber-stamp Assembly, I laugh. We were not elected to come and oppose the executive. Instead, we were elected to work collaboratively with the executive arm of government to provide dividends of democracy to the people.

“What you also need to understand is that, contrary approvals for loans do not necessarily translate to actually accessing the loans. In most cases, some conditions may not be met and that will affect full disbursement of the facilities. So, the general impression that the government has borrowed so much may be very wrong,” he said.

Our correspondent recalls that the House gave an approval for the governor to take a ₦350bn bond last week and some sections of the society alleged that the governor gave ₦1.5bn as kickback to the House to secure their approval.