Taraba lawmakers stranded as Assembly workers seal entrance

This is certainly not the best of times for both the members of the Taraba State House of Assembly and the state governor, Arc. Darius Dickson Ishaku as the entrance gate of the Assembly, was on Monday sealed by aggrieved workers.
The workers, who on Monday embarked on an indefinite strike over seven years of unpaid outfit allowance, vowed not to allow peace to reign until allowances are settled.
At the time of filing this report, legislative activities had been paralyzed, as lawmakers were not allowed access to the Assembly premises.
The ongoing strike is coming barely a few days before the state governor’s presentation of the 2023 budget.
Describing the action as “a shame”, some of the members who bared their minds to our state correspondent wondered why the governor has continued to soil the “good image of this state by denying workers and pensioners their rights.”
One of the members who said “the fault is not from the workers” urged the people of the state to “blame the governor because he is not workers friendly.”
When asked why the members are finding it difficult to serve the governor, an impeachment notice, the member who sought for pen protection, blamed the leadership of the House who, according to him “are too weak.”
Citing how they went on recess without being paid, and the numerous loans the House had granted approval for the governor to collect, he said “none of us can actually tell what exactly he (Ishaku) has done with such loans.”
The members who NEWSMEN learnt recently rejected to grant another approval to Ishaku to access N14 billion loans were said to have tried all they could to convince the governor to attend to the plights of the Assembly workers but to no avail.
Speaking with our correspondent, the chairman of the Parliamentary Staff Association of Nigeria (PASAN), Ibrahim Bala Yusuf, said the governor’s lukewarm attitudes towards their plights have dwindled the morale of the Assembly workers.
While beckoning to the critical stakeholders from the state of wade in by urging the governor to do the needful, the leadership of the union, as made known by him, have resolved to make themselves sacrificial lambs for their colleagues.
“This gate, according to him, will continue to remain locked pending when those concerned are willing to pay us our outfit allowance,” he said.