Bamidele, 17 Other Senators Stopped From Landing At Taraba Airport — Jimkuta
David Jimkuta, the Senator representing Taraba South in the National Assembly, has expressed frustration after 18 Senators, including Senate Majority Leader Opeyemi Bamidele, were prevented from landing at Kashimbila Airport in Taraba State. The Senators were scheduled to attend Jimkuta’s empowerment programme in his senatorial district.
Jimkuta claimed that the denial of landing permission was a deliberate attempt by state authorities to disrupt his multi-billion Naira empowerment initiative, which aims to provide assistance to his constituents. The lawmaker made this disclosure in Wukari, where he was distributing empowerment kits to residents of Wukari, Takum, Donga, Ibbi, and Ussa local government areas.
According to Jimkuta, the group of 18 Senators, who were invited to not only attend the event but also to discuss some of his proposed legislations, were told that Kashimbila Airport was not operational. He revealed that after initially requesting a landing permit and offering N30 million for clearance, the airport authorities claimed the airport could only resume operations in two weeks, preventing the Senators from attending.
He said, “We demanded clearance for landing permit at Kashimbila Airport for 18 Senators, including the Majority Leader of the Senate, and we were told the tower is bad and I should give them N30 million, which I did. Then they came out with another problem, saying the airport is no longer functional and it will only commence operations in the next two weeks.”
Jimkuta further expressed his frustration, noting that these obstacles were politically motivated to hinder the distribution of the empowerment items, which had been a significant challenge for him to organize. Despite the setbacks, he expressed his determination to move forward with the programme, saying, “By the grace of God, today many people will go home smiling.”
The empowerment items distributed included 70 cars, 150 motorcycles, 70 grinding machines, sewing machines, tricycle pick-ups, deep freezers, industrial machines, car wash machines, vulcanizing machines, and wheelchairs. Jimkuta also highlighted that the presence of the Senators would have allowed them to learn about his proposed bills in the National Assembly, such as the Federal University Wukari Bill and the Wukari-Jalingo-Numan Road and Ibbi Bridge projects.
He described the denial of landing permission as a calculated attempt to disrupt his efforts and progress in serving his constituents.
