…Encourages Social Distancing Over Covid-19
By Benjamin Awua, Jalingo
The Taraba State governor, Arch.Darius Ishaku, on Thursday returned to the state after spending over 80 days away from the state.
Ishaku who arrived Jalingo amid fanfare on a chartered flight on IZY Air landed at the Danbaba Suntai Airport at about 4pm.
While addressing journalists at the airport, Ishaku cautioned the people of Taraba State to avoid handshake, even as he advocated that social distancing should be encouraged in the state in the meantime in order to stem the spread of Coronavirus pandemic in the state.
He enjoined the people of the state to promote personal hygiene and practise hand washing, using soap and hand sanitizers to check the spread of the dreaded virus.
He said, “For now, people should avoid handshakes and imbibe the culture of personal hygiene as recommended by the World Health Organisation, WHO.
“We don’t have test kits available here and we must prioritise personal hygiene to avoid the virus.
“People should avoid travelling to places where cases of the virus have been confirmed. Business transactions and conversations with people in such places can be done online.”
Explaining why he stayed away from the state for quite a long time, Ishaku, told journalists during the interview that he was involved in domestic accident and that he underwent a surgery during his long stay away from the state, saying that he was yet to fully recover from the accident, but was following his doctors advise while he recuperated.
He thanked the people of Taraba State, most especially his deputy, Haruna Manu, for keeping faith with him while he was away, noting that contrary to media reports in some quarters that governance suffered setback in the state while he was away, it was the opposite, adding, “Road projects were going on and the act of governance generally is going on smoothly.”
Recall that Governor Ishaku’s last public appearance was on December 19, 2019, when he presented the 2020 Appropriation Bll to the State House of Assembly, while he reportedly left the state on December 22, 2019 and was not seen until Thursday March 19, 2020.
However, the long stay of Governor Ishaku from the state had generated much controversies between the opposition All Progressives Congress, APC, in the State and the ruling Peoples Democratic Party, PDP.
Taraba State Chairman of the APC, Barr. Ibrahim Ibrahim El-Sudi, had called on the governor to transmit power to his deputy, Engr Manu, or risk impeachment, this was even as the party threatened legal action against the governor should he continue to stay away from the state illegally.
But the PDP leadership in the state had consistently maintained that the governor did nothing wrong to warrant impeachment and accused the APC of overheating the polity.
