Taraba State Governor, Darius Ishaku, has refuted report that he approved N2 billion for the purchase of luxury vehicles for the governor, his deputy, and their wives.
The governor, who spoke through his special Adviser on Media and Publicity, Bala Dan-Abu, on Sunday, said the report was false.
He described the report that the State Executive Council approved the money as just the imagination of social media writers.”
Dan-Abu said,”We don’t want the traditional media to give credence to it.
“There is nothing to it. The story is just the imagination of the social media writers
But some residents of Jalingo, who spoke to our Punch, including Lamini Ayua, Tanko Uba, Yusuf Mohammed and Livinus Agyo, also kicked against the alleged N2bn car gift.
One of the residents, Uba, told our said “I want to advise Governor Ishaku to rescind his approval on the project because the state needs such funds for better developmental activities.
“We are in a serious economic crisis as a state, the debt profile of the state is huge, salaries and pension are not paid, yet the governor (allegedly) approved such an amount of money for himself days before leaving office?
“The state cannot afford that for now. Governor Ishaku should not be self-centred. With the current situation of things, it’s greed that made the governor to (allegedly) approve such an amount of money for himself, his deputy, and their wives.”
Premium Times had reported that barely 18 days to the end of his tenure, the Taraba governor had approved N2bn for the purchase of luxury vehicles for himself, his deputy and their wives.
The online newspaper quoted a source as saying, “Governor Darius Ishaku in our last SEC meeting asked the council to approve a memo he presented for the purchase of vehicles for himself, his deputy and their wives and it was speedily approved without any argument.”
According to the report, the memo presented by the governor indicated that he would get two Toyota Land Cruiser SUVs, two escort Toyota Hilux vans, and a utility vehicle while his wife will get a Land Cruiser SUV worth N1.3bn.
The Deputy Governor, Haruna Manu, according to the memo, will receive two lower versions of Land Cruiser SUVs and one escort vehicle while his wife will get one SUV and a utility vehicle.
According to Punch, the governor and his deputy have not changed the Lexus 570 SUVs they have been using since assumption of office in 2015.
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