25/01/2023
WEDNESDAY JANUARY 25, 2022: THE SEARCH FOR SOCIAL JUSTICE AND PEACE IN TARABA STATE: THE TYRANNY OF GOVERNOR DARIUS DICKSON ISHAKU.
You will recall I made a number of press releases and a conferences; and have exercised restraint since the unjust incarceration of Hon. Yakubu Samaila Young JP - Director-General, Honourable Danjuma Usman Shiddi Campaign Council, the Southern Taraba Senatorial District senate candidate of the All Progressives Congress, (APC) and the eventual arrangement and grant of bail to the Defendant albeit on stringent terms since the 27th day of October, 2022 by a Magistrate Court Holden at Jalingo.
2. Today, I still affirm my conviction and respect for the rule of law and the Courts, and cherish the grand-norm that establish the Court and vests it with the jurisdiction on legal disputes. In exercising my right to freedom of speech, I wish to express my reservation about the path of dishonour, disobedience to the rule of law and anarchy taken by Governor Darius Dickson Ishaku and his cohorts, and to draw the attention of the Taraba and Nigerian public and the international community to what is in totality a grave illegality by Governor Darius and his lieutenants in harassing, hunting and hounding of the members of the All Progressive Congress especially those aligned with Honourable Danjuma Usman Shiddi and Senator Emmanuel Bwacha, both contesting for Taraba South senatorial seat and Taraba Governorship respectively, under the platform of the All Progressives Congress.
3. I have observed that the continuous arrests, hounding and harassment of our members in the most barbaric and condemnable manner even when they are on bail or sureties for persons on bail, ostensibly at the instance of Governor Darius and his cohorts leave much to be imagined. This press statement is necessary in the face of overwhelming evidence of arrests, hounding and harassment of our members and thus, that raises fundamental questions on Governor Darius’ eligibility for public office and international travels or engagements, and for a display of such questionable social behaviour by Governor Darius, the international community must take seriously. This behaviour is evident in his plots, intrigues and conspiracies with a section of the Taraba Judiciary which heralded these recent waves of arrests and incarceration of our members and teeming supporters against all known democratic cultures or rules. We are worried about Governor Darius’ and his cohorts' several other obvious gross misconducts and nasty violations of not only the sacred norms of the Nigerian constitution, but also the agelong values of peace, unity and respect for human rights held in the highest esteem by Taraba people. Here are the other critical issues that will continue to prick the conscience of all rational, democratic and right thinking people in Nigeria and across the world:
A) As we speak and for several months running, some members of the All Progressive Congress in Taraba State have been locked up and gagged by the governor, thus, preventing them from freely moving, expressing their views without fear of intimidation, associating and pursuing legitimate businesses, while those who dared are surrounded by armed policemen and armed thugs, while the streets have been taken over by miscreants who literally live inside the streets with their cudgels and h**p.
B) As at today, Hon. Yakubu Samaila Young JP is still in remand at the instance of Governor Darius who ensured that his bail conditions are not only stringent but draconian too - practice strange to our legal jurisprudence as one wonders if grant of bail should now be used as a means of punishing the Defendant before the determination of the matter.
C) A few months ago, we woke up to witness the shameful arrest and eventual unlawful detention of Isa Ma'aji Shekarau Masa-Ibi a.k.a Isa Ma'aji - Wukari Local Government Coordinator, Honourable Danjuma Usman Shiddi Campaign Council, Hon. Danladi Jibatswen Zozo, Chairman All Progressives Congress, Wukari Local Government and Mr. Meshack Dan-Azumi, the Senator Emmanuel Bwacha Campaign Council Wukari Local Government Area Coordinator in a bid to silent Honourable Danjuma Usman Shiddi and Senator Emmanuel Bwacha. These persons remained in detention until we painstakingly secured their bail. The trio were arrested on the allegation of exercising their legitimate duty of drawing the attention of the security agencies to a potential breach of law and order via a petition. Is this not an overt attack targeted at obliterating every trace of the APC in Taraba State? The local and international community must act fast to stop Governor Darius and his cohorts from unleashing total mayhem on members of the All Progressives Congress and innocent Tarabans.
D) Yesterday again, we woke up to a shameful arrest and remand of Alh. Gambo Hashimu the Deputy Director-General of the Hon. Danjuma Usman Shiddi Southern Taraba Senate Campaign Council, and Hon Abdullahi Shuaibu apc stalwart at Zing correctional center, who stood surety for the aforementioned persons. We fear that if those whose responsibility is to protect and uphold justice under Governor Darius administration fail to do so, their decision to affirm his authority albeit unlawfully on our silent but grieving people will continue to attract public disdain and outrage. Moreso, given the video evidence on the attack on defenseless members of our party and particularly Hon. Yakubu Samaila Young JP, which went viral, showing a graphic account of how the gory incidence transpired, ostensibly at the instance of Governor Darius and his cohorts. One could deduce that the attack was carried out by impoverished young people induced by state funds: people who are gun-toting, fear-inducing, havoc-scheming, backed by armed officials during the horrible attack on the gentleman.
E) It is pertinent to note that what Governor Darius and his cohorts are doing in the full glare of the world is only reminiscent of what only Adolf Hi**er or Idi Amin could have done by supervising the merciless intimidation, harassment and hounding of innocent and helpless citizens and through a combination of subterfuge, violence and brigandage, and have since prevented law abiding members of the All Progressives Congress from carrying on with their legitimate businesses.
F) We are perplexed that up till now non of the culprits in the invasion of the premises where Hon. Yakubu Samaila Young JP who was holding a peaceful assembly before he was assaulted, has been apprehended and brought to book. In spite of this odious affront on helpless citizens, the police have remained silent, thus, giving a tacit support to Governor Darius and his cohorts' brigandage.
G) The state of affairs in Taraba under Governor Darius remains, anti-culture, primordial and shocking. This only reminds Taraba people of the indignity, spineless corruption, rot, destruction of the sacrosanct reputation of the state by the Darius' administration, and other traumatic experiences the Taraba State Government under the Governor Darius-led Peoples Democratic Party, (PDP) has subjected Tarabans into in the last 7 years of misrule which seem to have destroyed almost every valuable fabric of the society and unfortunately too, the Taraba State judiciary particularly the lower courts which should be the bastion of the common man, is also unfortunately being subjugated to the whims and caprices of Governor Darius and his cohorts and being ridiculed in this manner. It is our considered opinion, that Governor Darius is only an outstanding beneficiary of this decomposing state mechanism.
H) As things stand in Taraba State today there is no democracy as prescribed by the nation's constitution. Nearly everyone who dares to oppose the administration is being muzzled under the Darius' administration. The judiciary especially the lower courts is not spared of this intimidation, as it is now being used for Governor Darius' and his cohorts' hatchet jobs to muzzle and incarcerate assertive citizens who dared to call him out for his unlawful actions and inactions. The Taraba legislature which should be vigilant and check the excesses of the governor, sadly have been beheaded and muzzled against the provision and intent of the law.
I) Therefore, what we have in Taraba State today is a dictatorship of one man and it appears that he has excised Taraba State from the rest of the country and suspended the Nigerian constitution and sadly all the state apparatus that should call him to order, are helplessly looking on in the state. The Federal Government and the International must wade in immediately before Taraba further descends into anarchy.
J) The truth is that Governor Darius and his cohorts are instinctively mischievous and their penchant for unlawfulness knows no bounds. Tarabans and Nigerians are witnesses to the unlawful manner he is carrying on with his administration in the state especially in recent months.
4. It is instructive to note that Governor Darius Dickson Ishaku has responded to the press conference held by Hon. Danjuma Usman Shiddi with more arrests, intimidation and hounding of law-abiding citizens and members of the All Progressives Congress and ostensibly it is now our sordid reality. This is an old trick that we have seen over and over again. It should be noted that while he was issuing some mischievous denials through press statements, members of the APC are being harassed, hounded and intimidated everywhere especially in Southern Taraba.
5. I call on the good people of Taraba to remain calm even in the face of dashed hope and aspirations by the Darius' administration. Our confidence remains firm and unshaken in the belief that by the power of the Almighty, the creator of heaven and earth and mover of all things, who is more Supreme than any human on earth or anywhere else, our people will be free from torment and the unending misery under Darius's jackboots, which though, gives a false semblance of democratic acceptance by the generality of our helpless and long suffering people. We know that very soon, the Day of Judgment will come for the wicked and the unrighteous as we sojourned to the 2023 general elections.
6. As always, I enjoin my teeming supporters, the massive supporters of the APC to keep their light burning with hope alive, and we must not take laws into our hands. Do not succumb to intimidation. Stay positive. In the face of this horrible temptation by Governor Ishaku, look unto your future, remembering that it is brighter than any darkness today may hold against you or our dear Party. As we promise under our mandates, we are going to ensure we bid poverty farewell in Taraba South and indeed, Taraba State, and improving your lives and that of our communities. We are marching forward under the All Progressives Congress (APC), we are marching into improved socio-economic development and collective prosperity for all peoples in our dear State.
Honourable Danjuma Usman Shiddi
Member representing Wukari/Ibi Federal Constituency,
Chairman House of Representatives Committee on Internal Security,
National Assembly, Abuja
