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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