Mr. Iliya Ezekiel Chief executive officer (CEO) of Taraba​ Investment and Properties Limited
Mr. Iliya Ezekiel Chief executive officer (CEO) of Taraba​ Investment and Properties Limited


Musa Affos (Rhapsodi), Jalingo


The chief executive officer (CEO) of Taraba​ Investment and Properties Limited, Mr. Iliya Ezekiel, has given a local newspaper, Taraba Truth and facts 24 hours ultimatum to retract their recent publication against him alleging that he (Ezekiel) brought substandard materials for the Taraba state greenhouse or face legal action.

Iliya, while reacting to a Thursday’s publication by Taraba Truth & Fact that substandard materials were purchased and used for​ the roofing of 10 Green Houses​ that were destroyed by windstorm early this year, said the report was untruthful and without facts. 

He further described the allegation that he bought substandard materials for the work at GreenHouse as a blatant lie and laughable.
“The allegation that I used the fund to purchase substandard materials is baseless,​ unfounded, and lies that are carried by mischief makers,” he said.



He maintained that what led to the protest by staff of the Green House Was the strict control in line with the operations to stop fraudulent acts by staff in areas of stealing, absenteeism among others.

“Since the farm was handed over to us in the Investment house, we have worked hard and transformed the farm by adding value, and today, it is contributing to the economy of the state.

“As we speak,​ we are now producing goods and selling the same for our operations. Earlier this year, we had an outbreak of COVID-19 where we were unable to import.

“We also went all over Nigeria and couldn’t get a standard plastics while our crops were been destroyed by rain until the GM/COO and his team contacted a supplier in Kano to produce what was used for the reroofing of the Green House that was destroyed by windstorm,” Ezekiel said.

According to him, there was another windstorm in the month of September where the roof was blown off and that the GM/COO who is a​ foreigner contacted virtue trader in Greece to supply the plastics and the governor released the money but that the items are yet to arrive due to forcing exchange from the Central Bank.

“We are at the moment trying to purchase ticker grade from Greece which will withstand heavy rainstorms as the roofing plastics are not produced in Africa,” Ezekiel added.