Senator Joseph Sarwuan Tarka was a Nigerian politician from Benue State and a former minister for Transport and then Communications under General Yakubu Gowon.
11 Facts About Joseph Tarka
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Joseph Tarka was one of the founding members of the United Middle Belt Congress, a political organization dedicated to protecting and advocating for the country's Middle Belt.
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Joseph Tarka's father was a village teacher of Tiv origin who later became a headmaster and then chief in Mbakor, Gboko area.
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Joseph Tarka attended Native Authority Primary School, Gboko and Katsina Ala Middle School.
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Joseph Tarka was a member of the Tiv Native Authority Staff Union and of the Northern Teachers Association.
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In 1954, on a ticket that was allied with the Middle Belt People's Party, Joseph Tarka was elected to represent the Jemgbagh constituency in the Federal House of Representative.
7.
Joseph Tarka then emerged as President of the United Middle Belt Congress, the party soon formed an alliance with the Action Group, the dominant party in the Western Region.
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Joseph Tarka was a nominated member to the Nigerian Constitutional Conference of 1957 and was the representative of the Middle Belt zone to the Willinks Commission of 1958.
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Joseph Tarka was an advocate of state creation to give politically and economically empower minority groups within the country.
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Joseph Tarka supported the creation of a Middle Belt state before the republic was truncated.
11.
Joseph Tarka was elected Senator for Benue East in 1979, and was appointed chairman of the Senate Committee on Finance and Appropriation, a position he held when he died on 30 March 1980, aged 48.