By Emmanuel Bello


Last Saturday Night was memorable as both
visiting editors from Lagos and some of their
Abuja-based counterparts had dinner with
Governor Darius Ishaku. As a Saturday Night
performance, the governor put up an award
winning spectacular display. Call it a razzmatazz
and you would be right. But it was also a serious
business. The venue was the tastily furnished
official abode of the governor at upscale
Asokoro, popularly called T.Y. Danjuma House. A
stickler to time, Governor Ishaku, modestly
dressed in shirt and face cap ushered his guests
to the dinner at about 8:00pm. What started as
an ordinary night of light banters, ended up as a
seminar of sorts as Governor Ishaku donned his
professorial cap to deliver a cerebral lecture on
the state of affairs in Taraba state. He left no
one in doubt as to his grasp of all issues pe­
rtaining to Taraba state: its attributes, its
challenges and the ways forward.

The night started with mild and light hearted
introductions in between meals. Some of the
Editors were just meeting the governor for the fir­
st time even though their energy correspondents
had covered the governor in the past when he
was Minister of Power. The governor asked after
one or two names he worked with back then.
The cuisine was mostly light for that time of the
evening with exotic array of drinks. The governor
welcomed his guests after the self introductions.
He said the dinner was something he wanted to
have with the Editors since January but was
hampered by time constraints. Speaking on the
need for a robust relationship with the media, he
said he has always strived to ensure good
working conditions for practitioners in the state.
He said, “I’m sure the media would consider me
there friend. I also honestly believe that the
media is the last hope of the common over and
above even the courts because you work to
ensure social justice.” At this point, one of the
Editors smiled and said, “well, even sometimes
we have to come to the judges rescue. So yes
you are right about this.”
On what he has been doing for the media in
Taraba, Ishaku said, “I met a Sunrise Newspaper
whose sun has set (general laughter) when I
became governor. I’m going to ensure the Sun
rises again but for now I want to ensure we
finish the digitization of our electronic media. As
I speak we now have 17 hours or so of televi­
sion due to modern equipment. We have phased
out close to two decades of obsolete gadgets.
The same things we are doing to the radio
station.”
Some of the editors have never been to Taraba
state. Debo Abdullahi, Editor of Nigerian Tribune
said he went to Taraba State in the 90’s. It was
a harrowing experience he recalls especially in te­
rms of transportation. Abdullahi also scaled the
mountainous height of the Mambilla in an
exhausting journey. But all that has changed, the
governor told him and the other guests. Going to
Taraba and climbing the Mambilla had been
made easy. How? Hear the governor: “One of the
things I did was to open up the air space. The
airport has been lying down there with no visible
or even serious aviation happening there. So we
solved that by finishing the runway. I got
Overland Airline to start coming. I knew Overland
when I was minister of power because it was
easy to take them and go round the power
facilities around Nigeria. So I spoke to them and
they agreed to be coming. That’s how we now
have three flights per week. It’s really changed
how business is being done. You know, people,
investors alike can come into our cities and do
business now with ease. The roads have also
been improved. We have good roads from
Jalingo up to the Mambilla reducing the hours
spent on the road.”

On the menu was the Highland tea. The governor
saw how some of the editors glanced at the
product and relished it. “You seem to like it,” he
said, raising one of the packs. ” I met this
wonderful tea dead. So I did something. We
worked hard to ensure