Taraba State Watchdog for Good Governance (TWGG), has expressed sadness at the way and manner commercial banks have continued to grant loans to Governor Darius Dickson Ishaku of Taraba.
The governor whose tenure will be expiring by May, as observed by The Trumpet, has in recent times been granted nods by the state House of Assembly to source for additional loans from commercial institutions.
Piqued by the development, TWGG in a statement made available to media practitioners yesterday in Jalingo, urged the Economic and Financial Crime Commission (EFCC), to prevail on commercial banks to desist from granting more loans to Ishaku government.
Signed by its coordinator, Alhaji. Sanusi Ahmed, the group claimed to have uncovered plans by the governor to obtain an additional loan with the pretext of conducting local government council elections.
Reeling out the long lists of loans so far collected by the governor, they beckoned at the Financial crime commission to wade in by halting him from over indebting the state before bowing out of office in May.
Arguing that the series of loans so far collected have not impacted positively on the lives of the people and the state at large.
They said, “We see this loan as a conduit pipe by the governor to syphon the funds to his private pocket.”
“This is a governor that has taken the state backwards in all ramifications and just as the people are preparing to heave a sigh of relief that his time is finally coming to an end, he is trying to inflict even more damage before his exit.”
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Vowing not to keep their mouth shut pending when the financial crime commission wade in, they affirmed that “It has become very imperative for us to come out and speak to secure the future of our dear state from being completely mortgaged.”
The group went ahead to cite the snail’s pace of development in the state. “As we speak, go to Pantisawa/Yorro road, go to Pamanga/Dakka road, go to Wukari/Tsukundi road, go to Mararaba/Baisa/Abong road and the three General Hospitals in Gembu, Bambur and Wukari. None of these has been completed.
“Even the Jalingo dual carriageway may not be completed before the end of his tenure despite several claims that he has completed the projects.”
The group who also claimed that plans have been perfected by the governor through the Bureau for Local Government and Chieftaincy Affairs, to compel councils Caretaker Committee chairmen to sign some bonds, said “We wish to call on the EFCC to come to the aid of the state and advise all commercial Banks not to grant any loan request to the governor in the name of the state”. The statement added.
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