Two months after staying away from office as a result of the injury
he sustained in a plane crash, the plot to remove Gov. Danbaba Suntai of
Taraba State, thickened yesterday. The governor was the pilot of the
plane that crashlanded near Yola, the state’s capital, on October 25,
2012. He was rushed to a German hospital immediately. Suntai’s aides who
were wounded in the crash and flown to Germany, had since returned to
the country.
However, political leaders in the state are reportedly under pressure
to prepare grounds to declare Suntai “incapacitated” following fears
that he may not recover well enough to function as governor. Since
October 25 when the governor survived the plane crash, speculations had
been rife over his state of health. Suntai’s silence since his
hospitalisation in a German hospital has fuelled the speculations. One
governor, who recently visited Suntai in hospital told Daily Sun that
the Taraba governor might be brain dead.
“He couldn’t recognize us. He just stared as if in a trance.
Sometimes he smiled. But he didn’t speak to us and apparently oblivious
of our visit,” the source told Daily Sun. But in a swift reaction, the
state Commissioner for Information Mr. Emmanuel Bello faulted the claim,
dismissing it as “grossly mischievous.” According to Bello, Suntai
spoke with some members of the State Executive Council (SEC) on
Christmas Day from his sick bed. He stated that the governor’s recovery
was “impressive.” Bello told Daily Sun that Suntai’s personal physician
called from Germany to break the “good news” that the governor would
return “early in the year.” He, however, declined to give any date. “You
know there are a lot of people seeking to make political gains from
this incident. First, they speculated he died. The story has now changed
to his being brain dead.
I can assure you that nothing could be further from the truth.
Governor Suntai is not only responding to treatment, but would soon
return to work,” Bello said. On why Suntai has not made a televised
speech from his sick bed to douse the speculations, Bello said there was
no need for such since, according to him, Governor Suntai would soon
return to work. Meanwhile, Daily Sun gathered that top political figures
were already piling pressure on the Acting Governor, Alhaji Garba Umar,
to dissolve the SEC and appoint new members that would have the courage
to declare Suntai medically unfit to remain as governor.
The incumbent SEC, of which Umar became a member recently, was
appointed by Suntai. According to Section 189 (1) of the 1999
Constitution, “the governor or deputy governor of a state shall cease to
hold office if (a) by a resolution passed by two-thirds majority of all
members of the executive council of the state, it is declared that the
governor or deputy governor is incapable of discharging the functions of
his office.”
Some political leaders in and outside Taraba are worried that should
Suntai’s health condition worsens, he may remain governor from his sick
bed in Germany, and Umar, acting governor till May 2015 when their joint
tenure will expire. Umar’s associates though believed to be longing for
their friend to be sworn in as substantive governor, are calling for
caution so as not to rock the delicate political and religious equation
of the state. Until his nomination, Umar reportedly was the
Secretary-General of Izalla, an influential Islamic group. His
associates are reportedly uncomfortable with the way Suntai’s aides have
effectively shut out their friend from the running of the state.
“You know Umar hadn’t even earned his first month’s salary as deputy
governor when the governor had that plane crash. Apparently because he
is new to the system, and had never been in government, some top
officials have been playing hide-and-seek game, tossing him up and
down”, lamented an associate of the acting governor. However, the
Information Commissioner faulted this claim, saying, outsiders may have
misconstrued the “synergy” among members of the state council as
undermining the acting governor.
“We all know that His Excellency, Alhaji Garba Umar, had been given
the powers to act as governor, and he had been discharging those
functions. I guess people are jealous of the level of support we give
him, reason for all these gossips”, said Bello. Reacting, prominent
lawyers including Mr. Femi Falana (SAN), Mahmud Yahaya Magaji (SAN) and
Godwin Obla, described Taraba as a test case for the recently-amended
Section 190 of the 1999 Constitution. Had the section not been amended,
said Falana, the people of Taraba State would have been at the mercy of
Governor Suntai.
“When the governor failed to inform the Speaker of his absence at the
end of 21 days, the Assembly promptly complied with the Constitution by
making the deputy, acting governor,” noted Falana. Yahaya and Obla,
however, cautioned on the dangers of allowing an acting governor to
function indefinitely. The Constitution did not envisage such a
situation where one person would be the acting governor and deputy
governor wrapped as one, they cautioned.
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