Former Senator and Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) governorship candidate in Taraba State, Emmanuel Bwacha, has said his ambition to govern the state is not an ethnic project targeted at the Ichen people.
Bwacha made the clarification in a statement issued on Monday, September 21, 2026, titled “Not an Ichen Project: The Taraba Mandate,” following reports that some individuals identified as members of the Ichen community had endorsed Governor Agbu Kefas for a second term.
The development followed a September 14 endorsement by a group operating as the Itchen APC Progressive Movement, which declared support for Kefas ahead of the 2027 governorship election.
Bwacha said he was neither seeking to govern the Ichen people nor asking for the mandate of any particular ethnic group, religion or locality.
He stated: “I am a Taraban. And I seek to govern Taraba State, not for a section of Taraba, but for all of Taraba.”
According to him, the governorship of Taraba was “bigger than any ethnic identity” and should be based on the collective mandate of the people of the state.
Bwacha said he was not concerned by the decision of some individuals who had identified as Ichen and supported the endorsement of another candidate, noting that those individuals had not supported him since 1991.
He, however, said he would have been concerned if their support had represented genuine, grassroots influence across Taraba State.
“What I see is a handful of politicians making a political choice that appears to serve their own interests more than the broader aspirations of the people of Taraba,” he said.
The former senator stressed that political journeys were not determined by the applause or endorsement of a few individuals, but by the trust of the electorate.
He said endorsements should carry weight when they reflected genuine conviction and were made in the interest of the people rather than as transactions for personal, political or material benefits.
Bwacha also acknowledged the right of individuals to support candidates of their choice, saying no individual, group or political arrangement could claim ownership of the voice of Taraba.
“The people of Taraba are greater than any endorsement. They are greater than any political calculation,” he said.
He added that it would ultimately be the people of Taraba, rather than a handful of politicians, who would decide who receives the mandate to govern the state.
“That is the mandate I seek, not the mandate of an ethnic group, not the mandate of a political clique, but the mandate of the people of Taraba State,” Bwacha said.
Bwacha is the PDP candidate for the 2027 Taraba governorship election and had earlier selected Aminu Zakari as his running mate.
