Taraba pensioners begin seven-day fasting to scuttle Gov. Ishaku’s Senate bid | Tellwell Newspaper
Tellwell Newspaper, Abuja – Nigeria:
From Godwin AGIA, Jalingo
Pensioners in Taraba state on Thursday commenced a 7-day prayer and fasting for God to ensure Governor Darius Ishaku loses his senatorial bid.
Taraba state pensioners chairman Comrade Silas Jafta disclosed this to our correspondent on Thursday, saying the decision was to appeal to God to stop the governor from taking his poor leadership style to the Senate after his uneventful eight years as governor.
Jafta explained that the plight to which the governor has subjected pensioners in the state was inhuman enough for them to seek God’s presence to stop the governor’s political ambition.
“We have resolved to embark on seven days prayers to appeal to God to ensure that Governor Darius Ishaku loses the Senate position. Our decision is due to the inhuman situation the governor has subjected us to,” Jafta said.
He lamented that pensioners in the state had not been paid their entitlements for the past 10 years, leading to the death of many of them, despite sending several letters to the government through the secretary to the state government (SSG) and the speaker of the state house of assembly.
The pensioners had also staged peaceful demonstrations demanding the payment of their entitlements without any positive response from the government, Jafta said.
He expressed regret that their request for permission to stage another peaceful protest yesterday was rejected by the police on the directives of the state governor.
“The directive of the governor for the security to stop us from staging the protest yesterday has proven to us that Governor Ishaku does not mean well for us and allowing him to proceed to the Senate after his abortive eight years of reign would be a disaster for Taraba state development,” Jafta said.
“We are appealing to God not to allow governor Darius Ishaku to win the Senate seat. His winning would be a disaster to development of Taraba, but his loss would be a blessing for the development of the state,” he said.
