TheCable

Darius Ishaku, governor of Taraba state, has accused the main opposition party of killing innocent people since they lost the governorship election in the state.

Ishaku spoke through Simon Dogari, commissioner for information, at a press conference in Jalingo, the state capital. 

Ishaku, who ran under the platform a candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), polled a total of 520,432 votes to beat Sani Danladi, his closest rival and candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC) who secured 362,735 votes.

Speaking on the violence that trailed the election,  the governor said the main opposition had masterminded the attacks in order to create tension in the state.

“There have been several cases of attacks on innocent and defenceless people in Jalingo by miscreants hired and armed by those who lost the elections,” he said.

“Their intention is to create tension and anarchy in the state, such that the impression would be created that the elections were not credible.

“The state government is happy that this motive has not been achieved. We give the credit to God and to all the good people of Taraba State, who have ignored the call to arms and have, in various ways, helped to defuse tension rather than yield to the temptation to react violently.

“The elections were generally free, fair and peaceful. There were no major incidents, as voting took place in all the centres.

“It is also instructive that one of the major contestants in the gubernatorial election, Senator Aisha Alhassan, also rated the election as free, fair and credible, even though she lost.

“Yet, the main opposition group has embarked on a mission of organising armed youth to confront people who came out in their numbers to celebrate the PDP victory.”

Ishaku also accused the APC governorship candidate of sponsoring “religious bigotry” in order to create strife among the people.

“The most unfortunate and dangerous dimension to this campaign was the religious colour their group tried to assign to the crisis. It is disheartening that a man who is aspiring to a high position of leadership of this state would resort to religious bigotry to achieve his ambition,” he said.

“Again, we thank God and the larger section of the populace for refusing to cooperate with him to cause more tension and damage to lives and properties.”