By John Mkom

After three month in office as governor of Taraba state Arch Darius Ishaku has not appointed commissioners that would constitute the state executive council. This may be connected to paucity of funds to pay the salaries and allowances of the prospective commissioners and special advisers.

Arc.-Darius-Ishaku

Another factor militating against the appointment of commissioners as gathered by Saturday Vanguard is the perceived newness of the governor to Taraba politics. Ishaku has not served under any political administration in the state apart from being a minister at the federal level.

On his assumption of office, he picked his former governorship campaign director general, Abubakar Bawa, as special adviser on Political Matters and the appointment was heavily criticized. Critics claimed that Bawa was unfit for the position having failed to deliver his polling booth during the polls.

Bawa was appointed on the same day with the Special Adviser on Legal and Legislative Matters, Hon. Haruna Gbana, the longest serving speaker of the Taraba State House of Assembly.

Although the appointment of Gbana, who is also a lawyer, was well deserved, the governor was said to have disappointed some of his political allies from Donga local council where Gbana came from. The strongest politician from the area accused Governor Ishaku of making the appointment without his input.

These criticisms were to have made Ishaku to be cautious. The special assistant on Media and Publicity to the governor, Mr. Sylvanus Giwa, said Governor Ishaku refused to be in haste to compile the list of commissioners to avoid expensive mistakes that could hurt his administration.

Giwa added that his boss wanted to be critical in making his appointments so as to offer quality leadership. The SA also said that the fund was also part of the problems hindering the governor from making the list of the state executive.

“The governor is being careful because he wants to appoint credible people that will give him the best in the course of rescuing Taraba. He also wants to put the state in a normal state of finance because as it is now he can’t afford to take care of them after appointments; he has to give them cars, allowances, running cost, imprest and what have you but look at the current financial state of Taraba for now,” Giwa said.

Saturday Vanguard gathered that power brokers that would shape the incoming cabinet include the state Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) Chairman, Hon. Victor Bala Kona, Senator Emmanuel Bwacha (the deputy minority leader of the Senate, who represents Taraba South), Senator Sani Danladi (Taraba North) and Senator Bashir Marafa Abba (Taraba Central).

Others are Sen. Danlami Ikenya, a strong politician from Wukari; Barr. Gibon Kataps from Sadauna; Speaker, Taraba State House of Assembly, Hon. Peter Diah and Hon. Mark Bako Useni, a former speaker of the Taraba State House of Assembly.