Kefas stated this on Monday while declaring open a five-day workshop on professional development for secretaries in ministry, departments and agencies (MDAs) in Jalingo, the state capital.

Kefas, who was represented by the state head of civil service, Mrs. Suzie Nathan, said despite the challenge, his administration had been paying workers their monthly salaries as at when due.

“l inherited an empty treasury from my predecessor Darius Ishaku, l met nothing in the treasury for my administration to start governance of the state.”

“Despite the challenging financial situation I met on ground, I made sure that employees are paid their salaries as when due, We also prioritize o payment of pension, and we have also enrolled retiree who were not receiving their pension,” the governor said.

Kefas announced that the state government would soon conduct a thorough biometric data capture to know the actual work force of the state civil service.

He assured that talented young men and women would soon be employed in a transparent manner. while all workers due for promotion would be promoted to their next grade levels.

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Amadi’s remarks followed a recent report in the media accusing the Governor of Taraba State, Darius Ishaku, of approving N2 billion for the purchase of luxury vehicles for himself, his deputy, and their wives.

He explained that such level of wastage of public funds can only be obtainable when people do not appreciate the frugality and high level of financial discipline with which great leaders like Peter Obi handled public resources.

It would be recalled that Obi, as the then Governor of Anambra State, met an empty coffers in State’s treasury when he assumed office. However, at the end of his eight years tenure, Obi left behind, a litany of achievements and a savings of over N75 billion.

Praising Obi for his level of financial discipline, Amadi stated: “Peter Obi didn’t give himself a pension and no fancy cars, still you don’t applaud him. You prefer the one that collects billions.”

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Ayade, a governor elected under the platform of the PDP, defected to the APC on Thursday, citing the need to help build Nigeria with President Muhammadu Buhari.

Reacting to the development, Ishaku who is a PDP governor said the opposition party members were embarrassed by the defection.

He spoke on Thursday after meeting with Ibrahim Gambari, chief of staff to the president, at the state house, Abuja.

“Well, I wouldn’t know precisely the governor’s thinking, because all of us are different, but we are greatly shocked and embarrassed that he suddenly dumped the party for APC, because all of us see PDP as an alternative to APC,” he said.

“And all the PDP governors are doing very, very well, in their respective states. And for him to leave for APC, I don’t know the details of that I have not seen.

“But be that as it may, I believe that any democratic country must have an opposition, a viable opposition and opposition in itself is good for democracy.”

Asked about the outcome of the PDP reconciliation committee that visited the Cross River governor, Ishaku said, “Let me tell you, they have done a good job. A very good one. But it depends on the decision of an individual and what he actually hopes to gain.

“You may get the best of intentions; somebody may not agree with you. And so that is the point that I think is more of the governor’s decision as it affects him, and that nobody can hold brief for that.”

Regarding the purpose of his visit to the presidential villa, he said: “I came to brief the chief of staff to pass some of my observations and thoughts to Mr president, particularly on Mambilla hydro power.”

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Earlier in the month, Darius Ishaku, governor of Taraba, established the panel as part of efforts to find solution to the recurring violence.

Through Sebastian Hon, their lead counsel, the Tiv said they were in doubt of the sincerity of the panel sitting in Jalingo, the state capital.

“We are withdrawing. We don’t have confidence in the commission because right from the instrument setting up the commission, to the terms of reference to the publication of terms of reference, the Tiv people have been profiled,” Hon said.

“The commission of inquiry is supposed to name all the parties and this named only the Tiv and their neighbors. So that is discriminatory, contrary to section 42 of the Constitution. It is also a ground, preparatory for violation of fundamental human rights of fair hearing of Tiv people.

“We raised this and the fact that the terms of reference also delved into criminality. We raised objections on all these and they overruled us. Section 2 sub 2 of commission of inquiry law of Taraba state says you must name all the parties. But only the Tiv people are named. What happens to the other parties?

“Again, we came to the court today they didn’t even list the people they named. They listed other memoranda for consideration. So from day 1 we are afraid, and genuinely so. So, we told them pointedly that we don’t have confidence in the composition of this panel. We also told them that there is a pending matter seeking to enforce the fundamental rights of the Tiv people at Abuja High Court. They are party to that matter and still went ahead and overruled us inspire of the pendency of that matter. So we don’t have confidence in the commission and we will not appearing again. We are not coming here again.”

Abdul Ibrahim, lead counsel to the Jukun group, expressed satisfaction with the withdrawal of the Tiv.

“We are here to ventilate our grievances so that lasting peace would be found between the Tiv and the Jukun. Some people have decided to step out. Fine. The fact that they are leaving does not mean we don’t have our own grievances and it is not at the whims and caprices of others for us to ventilate them,” he said in a statement.

At the inaugural sitting of the panel, Kumai Aklias, its chairman, said the commission will not to take side with any of the ethnic groups.

Aklias said the “essence of the commission is to see how we can find lasting peace to the incessant crisis that have bedevilled the state” was however not pleased with the decision of the Tiv to ceased from participating in the proceedings.

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This extends PDP dominance in the state to 20 years as the party has never lost a governorship election in the state since 1999.

Shehu Iya, the state returning officer and professor atModibo Adama University, Yola, declared the PDP candidate winner on Tuesday morning at the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) office in Jalingo.

According to Iya, the incumbent governor and PDP candidate polled a total of 520,433 votes, while Sani Danladi, the All Progressives Congress (APC) candidate garnered 362,735 votes to his name.

Ishaku won 11 LGAs, including Takum, Zing, Yorro, Kai, Bali, Donga, Wukari, Bali, Gashaka, Kurmi and Ussa LGAs, while his prime challenger won Jalingo, Gassol, Ibbi and Karim Lami.

Hassan Mijinyawa, Ishaku’s chief press secretary, via a statement on Monday, said the governor had imposed a dusk to dawn curfew on the state capital, Jalingo, without stating the reasons for the curfew.

The curfew, however, exempts staff of the electoral commission and key agents and observers.

“The curfew will run from 6 am to 6 pm daily, however, some INEC officials, key Agents of political parties and observers involved in the collation of the election results are exempted,” the statement read.

“Governor Ishiaku enjoined the people of the state to continue to be law-abiding as he urged security agencies to ensure strict compliance.”

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He also asked traditional rulers to pray for peace and “attitudinal change in the state.”

The governor spoke in Takum country home while celebrating the Christmas with his cabinet members, House of Assembly members, chairmen of local government councils, party executives, political supporters and traditional rulers.

He noted that his administration was heavily challenged by paucity of funds.

“The challenge is that what we are getting today is a far cry from what those who were with the late former governor, Danbaba Suntai, were getting.”

Ishaku said his priority was to develop Taraba and leave behind a good name rather than sharing the little resources available because he wants a second term.

He pleaded with the people of Taraba State to forgive him, if he had erred in the course of steering the affairs of the state within the two and half years,

“I am very sorry, if I went wrong. I do not have two brains, so forgive me,” he said.

He asked the people continue to love one another and sustain the relative peace to enable him achieve more for the state.

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The governor in a statement by his Special Assistant on Public Affairs, Emmanuel Bello, said there were no winners or losers in the entire episode.

He said, “There is no victor or no vanquished. We had disagreements which is healthy in any organisation and the Supreme Court resolved the matter.”

Ishaku, who has been in the forefront of reconciliation within the PDP, often hosting meetings of PDP governors, said that the end of hostilities in the party would bring peace and progress.

The governor urged everyone to come together and work for the advancement of the party, stressing that the verdict has resolved all the knotty issues.

“Let me urge all of us party faithful to come together and work for the party. After all, we all want the best for our party. This is the opportunity we all have been waiting for to forge ahead with the goals of our party’s”, he stated

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In a statement issued in Lagos on Sunday by its National Publicity
Secretary, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, the party said the PDP has always been a party of anything goes, hence it is a matter of time for the party to come to grief, first by tumbling from the pinnacle of power and now by losing, incrementally, whatever remains of its crumbled empire.

It said the PDP was only trifling by attributing the judgment to a
supposed manipulation from the Presidency.

“President Muhammadu Buhari as well as his party, the APC, are strong believers in the rule of law, as against the rule of impunity, hence will never manipulate the judiciary for whatever reason.

“The PDP is clearly aware of this, but has chosen to blame everyone
but itself for the fate that has befallen it. The PDP should have
known that it will pay for its years of impunity and recklessness. For this party, the chicken has now come home to roost,” APC said.

The party said if the PDP is not blaming the judiciary, its favourite whipping boy, it is blaming the APC, the Presidency or even Nigerians for its plight, warning it to stop shifting responsibility.

“PDP should leave the judiciary, the Presidency and the APC alone and accept responsibility for its actions. From the judgement of the
Tribunal, it is clear that the impunity of the PDP cost it the
election.

“Not only did the party breach Section 78 (b) (1) (2) of the
Electoral Act concerning the organization of party primaries, it was
not even deemed to have participated in the April 11th 2015
governorship election in Taraba State in the eyes of the law.

“Apart from not complying with the Electoral Act, the election of
the PDP candidate, Mr. Darius Ishaku, in the purported primaries in
Abuja was done after the stipulated time for party primaries had
elapsed, according to the Tribunal.

“It is thus clear that the election result in Taraba was not annulled for any other reason but the impunity and recklessness that permeated the life and times of the cadaverous PDP.

“It is noteworthy that this is not the first time the court is ruling against PDP’s impunity of violating its own constitutional provisions and the Electoral Aact with regards to ensuring internal democracy in the conduct of primary elections.

“The first landmark judgment came from the Supreme Court when it ruled against PDP’s impunity in 2007 and ordered that Rotimi Amaechi be installed as Governor of Rivers instead of Celestine Omehia who was illegally imposed.

“Secondly, the Supreme Court had also ruled against PDP in the case of Ifeanyi Ararume when the party took his mandate as validly elected Governorship candidate and handed it over to another aspirant.

“It is instructive to note that these judgments took place while the
PDP was in control of the Presidency. The opposition parties then never questioned the integrity of the judiciary by making wild and weighty allegations as the PDP is doing now,” it said.

The APC also said that the PDP should blame itself for its gross
impunity with regards to the conduct of primary elections for Taraba State.

“For instance, if all political parties, including the APC which was then in opposition, could hold their primaries in the state, why would the PDP that was in control of the State Government come down to Abuja for its primaries against the provisions of the Electoral Act and the PDP constitution?

“The impunity was not only in the case of Taraba State because the
PDP also moved its Governorship primaries for Borno and Adamawa States to Abuja in breach of the Electoral Act.

“The irony was that whereas the PDP claimed the primaries where shifted to Abuja because the capitals of Taraba, Borno and Adamawa States where not safe for primary elections, the PDP held Presidential campaigns in the same capitals of the affected states (Jalingo, Taraba State, Maiduguri, Borno State and Yola, Adamawa State).

“Now that the PDP’s chicken has come home to roost, the party must be courageous enough to accept full responsibility and stop seeing enemies everywhere. The PDP is its own enemy,” the party said.

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Fayose, who maintained that there was a conspiracy by the All Progressives Congress (APC) led federal government and a section of the judiciary against the People’s Democratic Party (PDP), called on the Supreme Court to save the country from impending anarchy.

In a statement issued by his Special Assistant on Public Communications and New Media, Lere Olayinka, the governor wondered how a tribunal could make conduct of the PDP primary that produced Governor Ishaku in Abuja an issue when the tribunal itself sat in Abuja.

He said that “how does the emergence of party candidate, which is the clear internal business of the party and a pre-election matter concern the APC and the Election Tribunal?

“Isn’t it funny that it is no longer about election rigging, but technicality of how PDP candidates emerged even when no one in the PDP went to court to challenge how Governor Ishaku emerged as the PDP governorship candidate?

“If insecurity could make Taraba State Tribunal sit in Abuja and not in Jalingo, how then can it be justified that the same tribunal that sat in Abuja nullified the governor’s election because the primary election that produced him too was held in Abuja?

“Is it not being manifested in this President Muhammadu Buhari led APC government that what is good for some people may not be good for others even though we operate the same constitution?

“To me and the teeming supporters of the PDP, this judgement is one that must not be allowed to stand. It is a clear miscarriage of justice and we will seek redress from the court of men and the court of God.”

While reiterating his commitment to speaking the truth in the overall interest of Nigerians, Governor Fayose said: “If everybody is persecuted and intimidated to submission, I will remain resolute in my resolved to always say the truth before men and God.”

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Although policemen were deployed in strategic locations in the state to ensure law and order, some people took to the streets at Agwan Gaadi, Barde Way, Wuro-Sambo and Angwani celebrating the Tribunal’s judgment.

A staunch member of APC and former chairman of PDP in Taraba state Dr. Abdumumuni Vaki told our correspondent that the judgment is democracy in action.

Vaki said the judgment would teach political leaders, a lesson who always think politics can only be for personal interest.

”When the PDP was in power, why couldn’t conduct primary elections? Why couldn’t it reconcile aggrieved parties? We must begin to learn how to do this within the confines of the rule of law.”

He however, called on the party to accept the tribunal’s verdict, so as to forge ahead with the development of the state.

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