By Soni Daniel, Regional Editor,  North

IMMEDIATE past Minister of State for Niger Delta Affairs, Arc. Darius Ishaku, has said that he is desirous of taking over the mantle of Taraba State leadership from the acting governor, Garba Umar, to salvage the state from huge debts and rising insecurity.

Ishaku, who spoke with Vanguard in Abuja, lamented that the current acting leadership had mortgaged the future of the state by incurring a huge debt profile of over N10 billion within a very short stint.

The former minister, who has already picked up the PDP governorship forms, pointed out that the state was in a very bad shape politically and economically and needed an astute and visionary leadership to rescue it from the brink.

He also accused the acting governor, whom he described as a stranger in the Suntai government of driving away those who brought him into the system and dismantling the structures that gave him power for selfish reasons.

Ishaku boasted that he would defeat Umar in a free and fair primary election, pointing out that the people of the state had enough reasons to reject the acting governor given the level of retrogression his interim administration had subjected the state and its people to.

He said, “If I am elected as governor, I would use my wealth of experience to change the shape of things and bring benefits to all the people irrespective of tribe, religion or oil tidal leaning. I should be able to re-energise the state economically since it is one of the most richly endowed states in Nigeria and the only place in the country where tea and coffee are grown in commercial quantity. I want to assure the state that I have what it takes to turn the state around and give the people a new sense of direction that would give them dignity, hope and a price of place in the comity of states.”