2019: Taraba needs your experience – Youths tell Gov. Umar

Ayodele Samuel, Lagos

Youths and various political groups in Taraba State while rolling out the drums on Tuesday to celebrate a former Acting Governor of the state, Garba Umar UTC, on his 70th birthday, said he remains the best choice for the state in 2019.
The youths, under the umbrella of Taraba State Students and Youths Movements, said its decision to celebrate the former acting governor was in appreciation of his giant strides in the areas of education and youth development during his tenure.
The TSSYM Coordinator, Joseph Auta, in a statement said Umar experiences in governance is need by the state in the next election.
Auta said the All Progressive Congress chieftain has shown over the years that he is a worthy mentor to hundreds of youths in Taraba State.
Auta said: “His commitment towards youths development and education was glaring during his tenure as chief executive of the state.
“Reactivation and construction of the College of Nursing which was abandoned for over four years and effecting completion to over eighty percent, employment of 170 staff for the Board of Internal Revenue and recruitment of 170 graduate and non-graduate indigenes for training at the National Power Training Institute of Nigeria. NAPTIN, boasted youths engagement in the state.”
Auta added that Umar also paid three years backlog of scholarship of N230 million to Taraba State students in various tertiary institutions in the country.
Also, the Coordinator of Taraba Peoples Assembly, Martins Andekin, said close associates of the former acting governor at a gathering in Jalingo to discuss his ideology and political achievements called on him to contest for the state governorships under the APC in 2019.
Describing Umar as an apostle of peaceful coexistence, Andekin said Umar’s influence cut across ethnic and religious divides because of his contribution to development of the state
The former acting governor was born on December 19, 1947.