2023 Governorship election: 3Governorship candidates accused CAN of collecting N50 million to endorse PDP candidate in Taraba State

Emmanuel Awari-Jalingo

The Governorship candidates of the All Progressive Congress APC, Senator Emmanuel Bwacha, Labour Party, Senator Danlami Ikenya, and that of Social Democratic party SDP, Hon. Danladi Baido Tijos, have condemned the endorsement of PDP candidate Kefas Agbu by the Taraba State chapter of Christian Association of Nigeria CAN.

They alleged that the Taraba State Chapter of the Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN), received a whooping sum of fifty million naira (50,000000.00) from Col. Kefas Agbu (Rtd) to endorse him as the sole candidate of Christians in the state at the 2023 gubernatorial elections coming up on 11th March 2023.

The three gubernatorial Candidates, at a press briefing in Jalingo, expressed disappointment in the leadership of CAN in the state for going out of their schedules and delving into political activities to divide the body of Christ in the state.

The Candidates also noted that apart from the ugly story of CAN, there was another set of religionists who were also parading in the state with a similar ideology that they had a Muslim candidate.

Expressing their displeasure on the development in separate speeches, Senator Emmanuel Bwacha, emphasized that they were not candidates of any religion but candidates of the people of Taraba State who had presented themselves for Tarabans to choose among them, who would intervene in the decay that the state was going through.

“We have a secular constitution and the people we are aspiring to govern comprise of Muslims, Christians, pagans and in fact even atheists. So these are questions for us to answer in eternity and not to be determined by man”. He added

In his speech, the Candidate of the Labour Party, Sen. Joel IKenya, alleged that the Taraba State Chapter of CAN had been turned into a state government parastatal and had long been misleading people of the state by creating divisions within the Christian community.

He lamented the decaying nature of the state in the past eight years under the leadership of the rulings PDP endorsed by CAN to continue with the misrule and called on Tarabans to disregard the endorsement.

IKenya recalled that in the past eight years in which the party endorsed by CAN had been on the throne, not even a single project was commissioned in the state not to talk of several deaths recorded by pensioners who found life difficult during the administration.

He said Tarabans want a homegrown politician who would not be remote controlled by anybody but the people of Taraba State, someone who has the knowledge and solution to the problems of the state, adding that only any of the three of them among all contestants in the state, had the capacity and knowledge of the state in a manner that could change the decay story of the state.

“We want to assure Muslims and Christians in the state that we are for every religion and they have the right to choose whoever they want to elect as the governor of the state but it shouldn’t be on the bases of religion. We are for Tarabans and we will remain committed to the course of our people to enable us to rescue the rescuers”. He stated.

On his side, the Guber Candidate of SDP, Danladi Baido, vowed that the era of imposing a candidate on the good people of Taraba state had gone.

Danladi Baido who wondered what CAN had taken into consideration to prefer Agbu over any of the three of them emphasized that Taraba State was not a company but a state like any other state in Nigeria and they would never again, fold their hands and allow people to come and impose a Candidates on them.

“My heart bleeds because, in this race, the PDP candidate can not match any of the three of us seated here in any ramifications. Apart from we been Christians as well, we have been grounded in Taraba Politics for over 30 years now. So who is as more qualified in the race that CAN would go and endorse Ikefas?

“If the leadership of CAN had taken side with any of my brothers here, Sen. Emmanuel Bwacha or Joel IKenya, it would have been a different case because they are grounded politicians in the state who have the problems and solutions of the state in their palms as I do. But Funny enough, the person whom CAN has endorsed, the Candidate of PDP, can not even mention five wards even in his Wukari Local Government Area of Taraba State”. He lamented

Danladi Baudo called on the leadership of CAN in the state to face its statutory responsibilities and stop playing pranks with the name of God and the intelligence of over four million Tarabans who are anxiously looking for someone who would genuinely revert the injustices and the decay nature of their state.

For a better society

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