The campaign organisation of Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) governorship aspirant Emmanuel Bwacha has criticised the performance of Taraba State Governor Agbu Kefas and called on voters not to support his re-election in 2027.
The campaign’s Director of Media and Publicity, Sulaiman Ibrahim Ahmed, made the call in a statement issued in Jalingo.
Mr Ahmed said the optimism that followed Mr Kefas’s election in 2023 had given way to disappointment among some residents.
He accused the administration of failing to adequately address challenges in infrastructure, agriculture, healthcare, education and other public services.
“In the past three and a half years, Tarabans have lived under serious deprivation in infrastructure, agriculture, health, education and other social amenities,” he said.
He also questioned the government’s management of primary healthcare, citing a recently circulated video of a primary healthcare centre in Jibu, Wukari Local Government Area.
Mr Ahmed alleged that some healthcare facilities across the state were operating in poor conditions and said this reflected what he described as failures in the state’s health sector.
Malnutrition and donor funding
The Bwacha campaign also raised concerns about child malnutrition and funding for health and nutrition programmes.
Mr Ahmed claimed that some international development partners had withdrawn or reduced support to Taraba because of the state’s failure to provide counterpart funding.
However, available evidence shows a more complex picture.
In August 2026, the Executive Secretary of the Taraba State Primary Healthcare Development Agency said inadequate counterpart funding and poor budget releases were among the challenges affecting healthcare programmes in the state. The agency also said the government had revitalised one primary healthcare centre in each political ward under the IMPACT project.
In 2024, Taraba’s health commissioner also announced plans for the state to contribute N100m to UNICEF’s Child Nutrition Fund.
The campaign spokesman said more needed to be done to address malnutrition and maternal and child health.
Cost of living
Mr Ahmed also criticised the state government’s response to the rising cost of transportation and living expenses.
He said the administration had not done enough to take advantage of federal initiatives involving compressed natural gas and electric transport to reduce transportation costs.
He argued that the state government should introduce measures that would provide relief for residents.
Call for a change of government
The Bwacha campaign spokesman said what he described as corruption, incompetence and poor management under the Kefas administration were reasons voters should reject the governor’s bid for a second term.
He urged Tarabans to support Mr Bwacha, who is seeking the governorship for a second time.
The campaign said an Emmanuel Bwacha administration would seek to strengthen partnerships with development organisations and provide counterpart funding for programmes in health, education, agriculture and other sectors.
“This is our covenant with our people to whom we will always be accountable,” Mr Ahmed said.
Governor Kefas and his administration have previously highlighted their own interventions in education, healthcare and youth development. For example, the state government approved about N1.39bn for WAEC-related expenses for 39,536 public-school students in 2026, while the state has also announced a youth business grant programme.
The Kefas administration has not been quoted in this statement responding specifically to the allegations made by the Bwacha campaign. Its response should be included if available.
This version is stronger journalistically because it separates what the opposition campaign alleges from what can be independently established. It also avoids presenting claims such as “corruption”, “gross mismanagement” or “donor organisations have left Taraba” as facts without supporting evidence.
