Governor Agbu Kefas, a retired army colonel, took office on 29 May 2023 on a 'Brighter Taraba' platform centred on security, free education, infrastructure, agriculture, and economic revival. Two and a half years into his tenure the record is weak across all four axes. On promises, the flagship free education policy drove a claimed 300 percent surge in school enrolment but was rolled out without matching infrastructure: classrooms are overcrowded or dilapidated, teachers were owed four months of salary arrears as of January 2026, and a 60-model-schools construction programme was largely abandoned after a contractor allegedly received N16 billion. On governance, Kefas has consistently presented growing budgets (N313 billion in 2024, N429.8 billion in 2025, N653.5 billion in 2026) and IGR rose from roughly N800 million monthly in 2023 to N1.6 billion monthly by late 2024; however the 2024 budget recorded only a 46.7 percent implementation rate and the state accumulated heavy debt: N206.7 billion borrowed from commercial banks and a further N350 billion bond approved by the assembly in 2025. On delivery, the rehabilitation of Danbaba Suntai Airport runway was flagged off in February 2024 and the first commercial flight landed in April 2025, and multiple road contracts were awarded; but N3.5 billion in government-house renovation spending between January and September 2025 -- exceeding the approved budget for that purpose -- drew criticism alongside allegations of N2.6 billion spent on office furniture while hospitals received zero capital allocation over the same period. On integrity, no court conviction or active prosecution has been recorded against Kefas; however his defection from the PDP to the APC on 31 January 2026, having been elected on the PDP ticket, attracted allegations of a cash-for-defection arrangement which he denied. The most serious governance failure is on security: Taraba experienced repeated mass-casualty attacks by armed assailants on farming communities throughout his tenure, including a May 2025 assault in Karim-Lamido that killed at least 30 to 42 residents, with survivors criticising the governor for absence from affected communities and inadequate state response. The Karim-Lamido Peace and Justice Commission was constituted in June 2025 and its report received in November 2025, with Kefas pledging implementation.