FACT CHECK: Did Senator Emmanuel Bwacha write a petition against General TY Danjuma in 1999?

Senator Emmanuel Bwacha didn’t write any petition against former Defence minister, General Theophilus Y Danjuma a KWARARAFA REPORTERS Fact checking report can confirm.

What happened?

In 1999, President Olusegun Obasanjo had literally begged General Danjuma to join him in the just formed government. OBJ, as the President was popularly called, reportedly said he can only feel safe with Danjuma by his side in the EXCO. What this meant was that Danjuma nomination as minister had nothing to do with any state representation formula. It would therefore be foolhardy for anyone to even oppose what was essentially a presidential decision. Moreover, General Danjuma position was directly solicited for by the president as a federal nominee. Gen Danjuma accepted the call and was appointed minister of defence- a position he justified through his sterling performance.

So there was no way anyone would have petitioned this development.

Rather what the House of Assembly did that year was to JOINTLY write a letter to President Obasanjo pleading with him to consider the other zones in the state. All the members appended their signature to this letter. The letter became necessary because President Obasanjo had also picked Mrs Salome Jankada from Southern Taraba as Ministerial nominee. It would mean the southern zone has two ministers in the cabinet. Bwacha and his colleagues tried correcting this anomaly by pleading that while the TY DANJUMA nomination was proper, the other part of the state Should be considered. That was how the northern zone got Dr. Shata as a minister that year.

This is the only letter Bwacha and his colleagues ever wrote on the subject of ministerial nomination.

The Fake letter

There is however a fake letter in circulation dated 27th July 1999. This letter has always made the rounds in all Taraba election season. It debuted in 2003 and made a strong showing then. The promoters of the letter always want to put a wedge between Senator Bwacha and General Danjuma. That is always the goal. The letter was used in 2015 again. So far the latter hasn’t stopped Senator Bwacha winning elections.

Anatomy of a forged letter.

The said letter clearly is a forged one. The first sign of its fakeness is the fact that it goes counter to parliamentary practice to have a majority leader write a correspondence directly to the Senate President as the letter said. Even Senator Bwacha’s signature bears the marks of an expert forger.

No wonder this letter has always fallen flat in the face of higher scrutiny. No one takes it seriously and normally doesn’t serve any purpose it was intended for.