Taraba APC Stakeholders Forum kicks against consensus ministerial nominee
By Sani Sulaiman
The Taraba State All Progressives Congress Stakeholders Forum has dissociated itself from the purported endorsement of Senator Emmanuel Bwacha as the ministerial nominee for Taraba State by stakeholders of the party in the state.
Alhaji Tahiru Buba, who disclosed this in a press statement issued in Jalingo, on Wednesday clarified that the news was just propaganda orchestrated by the Senator to further his political fortunes and create unnecessary confusion.
Buba said that the stakeholders could not have taken such a decision because it spikes injustice, marginalisation, and exclusion.
He urged the people to disregard the information and called on President Bola Tinubu and his team to look carefully and choose someone that will reflect the true qualities of hard work and party loyalty as well as balance the diversity of the state.
“Our attention has been drawn to the news going around of the purported endorsement of Senator Emmanuel Bwacha as the consensus ministerial nominee from Taraba State, supposedly by the APC Stakeholders from the State.
“We wish to state that such news item is propaganda being sponsored by Senator Bwacha to drive his political selfishness even at the detriment of the interest of the party in the State.
“It is a mundane ruse and subterfuge aimed at confusing within the APC in Taraba. We state categorically that such endorsement is not in any way a result of any APC Stakeholders meeting whatsoever, but a mischievous action of a few self-serving persons who have been paid to promote a primordial agenda,” Buba alleged.
According to him, there is no way this could have been a Stakeholders’ position because it’s replete with injustice, marginalisation, and exclusion.
“For the records, let us draw your attention to the unsavory fact that since the return to democracy in 1999, there have been Eleven Ministers from Taraba State and Seven of those Ministers are from the Southern Zone where Senator Bwacha comes from while the remaining Four were from the Northern Zone where the erstwhile Minister of transportation Engineer Mu’azu Jaji Sambo, hails from. It is most disheartening that the Central Zone which is the third Zone in Taraba State has never produced a federal minister to date.
“It is important to mention that Taraba Central constitutes the stronghold of APC in the State. Over the years and since the birth of APC in Nigeria, the Central zone has been the backbone of APC in Taraba. It is, therefore, grossly unfair that this region continues to work for the party while others reap the benefits.
“Also, Senator Bwacha cannot be taken to be an APC loyalist. Recall that the Three times he was elected to the Senate was under the banner of the PDP and the only time that he attempted to contest an election under our party was an abysmal result, the party could not produce a valid candidate for elections due to the discord that Bwacha deliberately sowed within the party.
“There is no doubt that Bwacha is a mole of the PDP sent to infiltrate Taraba State APC. He has stealthily and surreptitiously traveled deep into our party within a short period and the leadership of the party at the federal level continues to give him the importance that he does not deserve.
“It was on record that Mr. Bwacha had delivered his Local Government to the Labour Party (LP) in the 2023 elections. The Labour Party got its highest votes from Bwacha’s Taraba South, while Taraba North was divided between the Labour Party and the People’s Democratic Party. However, the Central Zone delivered the APC as it has always done.
“It is so bad that Senator Bwacha and his cohorts in the person of the self-acclaimed chairman of the party in Taraba State could not even influence the presidential campaign train to Taraba,” Buba further alleged.
Alhaji Tahiru Buba, however, implored President Bola Ahmed Tinubu to listen to the voice of apostates masquerading as loyalists in Taraba State.
“We humbly urge His Excellency Mr. President to disregard the charade being purveyed by the El-Sudi-led Stakeholders to endorse Senator Emmanuel Bwacha as the ministerial nominee from Taraba State, and to seriously consider the Central Zone, which has never benefited from the position in the past and produced the pioneer APC Chairman of the party in the State” the statement closed.
When contacted for comment, Barrister Ibrahim Tukur El-Sudi, did not pick up his calls.
