Dickson Tarkighir

Explore about the Famous Nigerian Politician Dickson Tarkighir, who was born in Nigeria on April 12, 1969. Analyze Dickson Tarkighir’s net worth, age, bio, birthday, dating, height-weight, wiki. Investigate who is Dickson Tarkighir dating now? Look into this article to know how old is Dickson Tarkighir?

Dickson Tarkighir Biography

Dickson Dominic Tarkighir (born 12 April 1969) is a Nigerian politician. He was a member of the 8th National Assembly of the Nigerian House of Representatives, representing Makurdi/Guma Federal Constituency and a member of the ECOWAS parliament.

Dickson Tarkighir was born into the family of Mr and Mrs Tarkighir Ubur Adaga. He attended St. Thomas Primary School Ibume, Makurdi Local Government Area from 1976 to 1981 where he obtained his First School Leaving Certificate (FSLC).

He proceeded to Nongov Community Secondary School, Tse-Kyo, Guma Local Government Area, where he graduated in 1986 with a Senior Secondary School Certificate.

Dickson Tarkighir is a marketing consultant. From 1988 to 1991, he served as an apprentice at Mojo Electronics, Umuahia. Between 1992 and 1995, he worked with Okada Air, Kaduna.

After a break in his educational pursuit, he was admitted to Edo State University, now Ambrose Alli University, Ekpoma, where he studied between 1998 and 2003 and graduated with a Bachelor’s degree in Business Administration.

“The fact is that, in addition to my GCE, I graduated from Ambrose Alli University, Ekpoma in 2003. I read Business Administration. And in case this needs some confirming with the University, here is my Certificate number FD. 045729.

However, Tarkighir’s response was that the report was the writer’s figment of imagination. In an interview with Daily Post, he said: “Earlier in the week, a friend and former course mate with whom we graduated in 2008 having completed our studies for MBA from Ahamdu Bello University Zaria, called with the news that my name was amongst those who are said to be at the National Assembly having no more than the barest minimum academic qualification which is a GCE.

He later gained admission to Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria, and graduated with a Master of Business Administration (MBA), in 2008.

Dickson Tarkighir was a member of the People’s Democratic Party (PDP). He worked for the victory of the party at all levels which earned him the appointment of Senior Special Assistant on Industries to the Governor of Benue State in 2009. He was re-appointed into the same position in 2011; a position he held until 2014 when he resigned to run for a seat in the National Assembly.

Despite being a member of the All Progressives Congress as President Muhammadu Buhari, he has continued to lambast and challenge the president over the issue of the Fulani herdsmen attacks. In an interview with The Daily Independent, he asserted, “we elected this government because in 2012, 2013 and 2014, this state was under attack by the Fulani herdsmen. Our people were refugees in their own land. The then President Goodluck Jonathan did nothing about it. So, we decided that we should change the leadership; hence President Buhari won Benue State. When Buhari came in, we thought that as a Fulani, an elder statesman and a former Head of State, he understood the challenges that our people face and would bring the farmers and herders’ clashes to an end. Unfortunately, the crisis escalated under his administration.”

“We laughed it off and I laughed even harder when I eventually read the full report and saw the other names on the list – some of which names are not members of the House of Representatives even as the report alluded to their membership.

He sought for the ticket of the People’s Democratic Party to contest at the polls but lost to John Tondo, in a primary election described as unfair. He left the PDP for the All Peoples Congress (APC) where he secured the ticket to contest at the polls in the 2015 general elections and won the seat to represent the people of Makurdi/Guma Federal Constituency in the House of Representatives, Abuja.

In 2016, there were reports in the media that a total of 45 federal lawmakers who got elected during the 2015 general elections to represent their various constituencies across the country were inaugurated into both chambers of the National Assembly with either Secondary School Certificates or Grade-II Teachers’ Certificates as their highest educational qualification.

After the passage of the 2017 budget, there was public outcry over the increase of the National Assembly budget from N115bn in 2016 to 125bn, at a time the nation was struggling to recover from economic recession. In the proposed budget, the sum of N125bn was appropriated for both chambers of the 8th Assembly, the figure which represents about 2% of the total budget of the federation. Tarkighir, however, explained why the budget was jacked up by N10bn.

Reacting to the continued attacks on ChannelsTV’s programme, Sunrise Daily on Monday, 8 January 2018, the lawmaker expressed displeasure over President Buhari’s failure to “name and shame” Fulani herdsmen despite the attacks on Nigerians in Benue state. He said that until the herdsmen are tagged as terrorists, the activities of security agencies in the area may not yield the desired results.

On 1 January 2018, Fulani Herders attacked Guma and Logo LGA and killed about 73 persons, including women and children. A mass burial for the victims was organized by the government of Benue State on 11 January 2018.

On Tuesday, 24 July 2018, Tarkighir was among 37 members of the House of Representatives who defected from the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) to other political parties. He defected to the People’s Democratic Party (PDP), a party he had previously defected from.

“For the sake of my constituents, friends and well-wishers, I am compelled to state (again) my academic qualifications. I do so in spite of being initially reticent about it because, I do not see myself or any other member as a better Rep than any of our colleagues whose academic qualifications might just be the barest minimum. It’s not nearly a factor in considering who has been or will be a better representative. I however, have a duty to correct a mischievous profiling of myself by a journalist who distorts a portion of my resume and goes to press with a scant remainder of it.

Among the persons named to have reportedly got elected into the office with O’Level result was Dickson Tarkighir.

He also appealed for support: “We are now appealing to the international community to come to our aid. We have over 190,000 men, women and children in IDP camps, and there is no food, there is nothing. The state government’s resources are overstretched, as regards the provision of medical needs, foods, clothing and infrastructures for camps. So far, we have about eight camps and the responsibility of taking care of these people is that of the state government.”

In another interview with This Day, Tarkighir said; “my people have lost faith in the federal government’s willingness to protect them, because even as the Exercise Cat Race was going on, the killings and the burning continued. They were killing policemen and even military personnel.

According to Tarkighir, “the Myetti Allah people had been threatening for the past six to seven months after the Anti-Open Grazing Bill was signed into law, that they would not allow it to be implemented. They made public statements on TV, in national dailies and international networks. These people are known, but the security agencies have not been able to arrest these people and prosecute them. When you threaten people with death and they eventually die, you are responsible. These people have not been arrested, which is why I say that those attacking us are known by government. Unfortunately, government is doing nothing about it. So, our people feel that there is collusion between the Federal Government and herdsmen. Look at Guma LG, it is about 40-minutes-drive from Makurdi. Three military assets are in Makurdi; you have the 72 Brigade, NASME, and the Air Force Base that can be deployed to Guma in less than 20 minutes. It took three days for the military to be deployed to Guma LG. What does that tell you? It tells you that they don’t care about the lives and properties that are being destroyed in Guma or in Benue. That is so unfortunate and we are disappointed with the president.”

He continued: “In faraway China, the President sent a clear message to pipelines vandals that he is going to treat them like Boko Haram. Pipelines vandals don’t kill people; they vandalize pipelines. Herdsmen kill people, destroy lands and properties and crops in our communities. They have killed over 8,000 people since Buhari came to power. The herdsmen are a huge security threat to this country. The President has provided military men to protect cattle breeders in Kano and Katsina from rustlers, but he has not provided the same military to deal with herders who kill people, particularly in the North Central zone. How is that fair?”

“The budget was actually N150bn in the 7th Assembly, but it took patriotic efforts of the leadership and members of the 8th Assembly to reduce it to what it is now. When we saw the economic situation then, we resolved amongst ourselves to make sacrifices for the country, so we reduced the budget from N150bn. But as you can see, it is no longer possible, due to increase in dollars. We can no longer sustain that figure. Even when the budget was N150bn, the exchange rate was 199 naira to a dollar, today, the official exchange rate is 305, but you can’t get it. You need to buy at the black market at high rate”, he added.

According to him, the present economic realities and the subsequent increase in the foreign exchange had drastically affected the operations of the National Assembly. “The cost of dollar virtually affects all facets of life. Almost everything we do here, we have to exchange naira for dollars. We import papers from abroad, including the ones we used to produce the budget you are holding. Now, we can’t even buy operational vehicles because there is no money.”

However, On Tuesday, 22 January 2019, Tarkighir announced his return to the All Progressives Congress (APC) saying “efforts by the Federal Government to restore peace and order to his constituency had pacified him and his people.” Dickson Tarkighir had earlier left the APC after being “aggrieved with the President Muhammadu Buhari-led administration over how the farmers/herdsmen crisis was being handled.”

However, On Tuesday, 22 January 2019, Tarkighir announced his return to the All Progressives Congress (APC) saying “efforts by the Federal Government to restore peace and order to his constituency had pacified him and his people.” Dickson Tarkighir had earlier left the APC after being “aggrieved with the President Muhammadu Buhari-led administration over how the farmers/herdsmen crisis was being handled.”

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