Bala Dan-Abu, the Governor of Taraba State’s special adviser on media and publicity, declared on Sunday that it was inaccurate to claim that N2 billion had been granted for the purchase of luxury cars for the governor, his deputy and their spouses.
He said the claim that the State Executive Council approved the funding was simply the product of 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.”
The purported N2 billion in luxury vehicles, however, were deemed ridiculous by the state’s opposition Action Alliance Party at a time when the government still owed pensions and gratuities.
The AA Chairman in the state, Moses Kugba, in an interview with our correspondent, said, “Already there is outrage over the N2bn approval. The people of Taraba are not happy. Just imagine, how many schools and township roads these billions will repair in Taraba State. Imagine how much impact the N2bn will make in Taraba State University.
“The governor is entitled to official vehicles but the timing is wrong. The governor has some uncompleted projects and we expect him to complete some of these projects and not remove such a huge amount of money to buy cars.”
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.
Although, checks revealed that the governor and his deputy have not changed the Lexus 570 SUVs they have been using since assumption of office in 2015.
