3rd September, 2013
Although he is still sick, a group of individuals claims that Governor Danbaba Suntai is fit to rule. But a majority of state legislators think otherwise and they stand firm. Here is the drama of Taraba
On 25 August, the old wing of Abuja’s Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport throbbed with anticipation. A sizeable crowd of Taraba State government officials waited to receive Governor Danbaba Suntai, who was flying in from New York where he had received treatment for injuries sustained in a plane crash on 25 October 2012.
Along with the officials was a raft of reporters and photojournalists, who were waiting to serve the public the first images of Suntai on Nigerian soil in 10 months. Suntai’s expected arrival had also provoked a fever on the streets of Jalingo, capital of Taraba State, where months of speculation about the governor’s health had pointed in one direction: brain-damaged.
An attempt to dispel this was made in January, when a photograph showing Suntai, sitting beside his wife, holding one of the twins his wife had just delivered, in Germany where he had undergone the first round of treatment.
The photograph did not achieve the expected goal. Instead, it reinforced the belief that the governor had become brain-damaged. In the photograph, Suntai, hollow-cheeked, stared emptily as his wife, Hauwa, wore a vast smile.
His arrival last week, despite contrary claims by his camp, is widely held as a confirmation that he is incapacitated. Looking somewhat crumpled, he waved limply, doddered and had to be supported by three men before he made it down from the aircraft. The empty gaze seen in the photograph published in January remained.
At the VIP lounge of the airport’s presidential wing, Suntai sat hunched and appeared propped on either side by his friends and aides. One of these was Professor Jerry Gana, former Information minister, who kept grinning and clapping. Suntai, who looked pallid, did not speak to newsmen. One of his associates, Dr. John Dara, said contrary to the widely-held belief that the governor lost his memory, he remains mentally alert. “We were excited to see him and it is understandable that after the long trip, he was weak and tired. But we were thrilled by the fact that he recognised everyone by name, which shows that he is mentally alert and lucid,” Dara said.
Given this, Dara added, Suntai is capable of resuming duties as governor. “That itself is a clear indication that he is capable of running the affairs of Taraba as the governor…When he gets back to Jalingo today, it will be up to his doctor to say whether he will resume today or in a couple of days to come,” he added.
Dara’s assessment of Suntai’s condition is not one that has achieved conviction among Nigerians, who see it as a replay of the health saga of the late President Umaru Yar’Adua.
Drama In Taraba
As the waiting game in Suntai’s 25 October 2012 air crash continues, the question on the mind of many Tarabans last week was, “Could this be the end of road for Governor Suntai?” But common sense dictates that when somebody’s house is on fire, there is no need asking if all is well with him. The current situation in Taraba , especially since the ailing governor was brought to the state, is suggestive of a state on fire.
Before Suntai’s arrival in the state on 25 August, it was widely reported in the media that there exists a cabal that has been running the affairs of the state from behind the scene, thereby turning Alhaji Garba Umar, deputy governor of the state who emerged acting governor in Suntai’s absence, into a mere spectator in the governance of the state.
The cabal is allegedly headed by Senator Emannuel Bwacha, representing Taraba Southern District in the Senate. Istifanus Haruna Gbana, former speaker; his former deputy, Abel Peter Diah; former majority leader, Charles Maijankai; and Mike Useni, member representing Takum 1 in the Assembly, are members. Others are the former secretary to the state government, Ambassador Emmanuel Njiwa; Suntai’s wife, Hajiya Hauwa; Alhaji Aminu Babale, a Suntai aide; the state PDP chairman, Mr. Victor Bala Kona and the former permanent secretary, Government House (Administration), Mr. Orkuma Denis Nev.
The cabal was accused of severally manipulating the state, including its finances. It is the cabal that decided who was to or not visit Suntai in his hospitals in Germany and the United States. This cabal sponsored several propaganda to confuse the people of the state on the true state of health of the ailing governor, similar to the cabal that existed during late Yar’Adua’s era.
Interestingly, members of the cabal fell apart with the Acting Governor, Alhaji Garba Umar, in June this year, when their plan to impeach the acting governor and replace him with one of theirs leaked. The acting governor quickly sponsored the removal of the entire leadership of the Assembly. Also, in July, Ambassador Emmanuel Njiwa and six commissioners were sacked, following a report of a committee of the state Assembly, for allegedly mismanaging funds meant for flood disaster victims in the state.
The cabal was not happy that the acting governor, who was brought in as deputy governor on 5 October 2012, was having his way. The cabal feared more that several groups are calling on the acting governor to contest for the governorship of the state in 2015, a position Bwacha allegedly claimed Suntai had promised him before he was involved in the plane crash. It is not only Bwacha that had claimed this. Damian Dodo, an Abuja-based senior advocate who allegedly joined the cabal later, was also said to be among those Suntai had promised would succeed him.
This cabal became more bitter following agitations from several groups calling on the state Assembly to confirm the acting governor as substantive Governor since it was alleged that Suntai was incapacitated and may not be fit to govern the state. Understandably, the cabal had to move fast to stop any attempt to confirm Alhaji Umar as substantive governor, as that would scuttle their ambition for the number one seat in 2015.
TheNEWS reliably gathered that between June and August, the cabal made three attempts to smuggle the ailing governor back into the country, despite advice from brain specialist doctors at Johns Hopkins Hospital in the United States that Suntai was not fit to travel to Nigeria.
According to sources, the cabal adopted several tactics to convince several big shots in Abuja, including those in the Presidency, that Suntai was fit to return to the country. The last tactic was the use of religion. The cabal was said to have sold a script to General Theophilus Danjuma that some highly placed Islamic leaders from the North were sabotaging Suntai’s return. The cabal allegedly told Danjuma that the Islamic leaders planted one Alhaji Umar, a childhood friend of Suntai in America, to prevent the governor’s return in order to pave way for the acting governor, who is a Muslim, to be sworn in as substantive governor.
The introduction of religion paid off for the cabal, as Danjuma allegedly called Umar on phone and ordered him to hands off all issues concerning Suntai. It was Danjuma who facilitated and secured the private jet that flew Suntai to Nnamdi Azikiwe international Airport, Abuja, on 25 August.
At the airport in Abuja most people, including journalists who had waited for Suntai’s arrival, were shocked when they saw Suntai being carried by his aides from the plane like a baby. He was smuggled into another flight from Abuja without having a word with journalists who had waited to interview him. Instead, Mr. John Dara, one time presidential aspirant, told journalists that Suntai was tired and could not grant press interview.
Dara, who was in the team that traveled to America to bring Suntai, along with Danjuma and former Information minister, Professor Jerry Gana, told journalists that Suntai was recovering but with some challenges.
On 26 August, a day after Suntai was flown to the state, a letter was transmitted to the Assembly through Suntai’s special adviser on Legislative Matters, Yohanna Adi. In the letter, it was noted that immediately the private jet from Abuja arrived the Jalingo airport, a vehicle was driven near the door of the plane under tight cover before Suntai was helped from the plane into a red Range Rover Jeep that conveyed Suntai from Jalingo airport to Government House, Jalingo.
Even the acting governor of the state and some top government functionaries, including some National Assembly members from the state, who arrived at the airport one hour earlier to receive the governor, were denied access to him. Also, a team of journalists that had been waiting at the airport were denied entry to the tarmac by security operatives, thereby denying them the opportunity of having interview with Suntai.
Accompanying Suntai to Jalingo in the private jet were, an Abuja-based lawyer, Damian Dodo; retired president of Customary Court of Appeal, Audu Dodo, and several other politicians from the state. There was a heavy presence of soldiers and policemen at the airport and all over the town. There also was a large turn-out of people, mostly Christians, who lined up from the airport right into Jalingo town to have a glimpse of Suntai.
After conveying him into government house, the crowd of Christians who had been mobilised from all the churches in the state capital by the Christian Association of Nigeria, CAN, marched to the gate of government house, dancing and singing praises to welcome the governor.
TheNEWS observed that Suntai is in a bad state as he can neither talk nor walk unaided when he arrived the Jalingo airport. Most of Suntai’s loyalists that saw him being helped at the airport were in tears.
The whole drama however succeeded in planting a seed of discord between Christians and Muslims. The Christians who turned out to welcome Suntai went round the major streets in the state, chanting songs capable of provoking Muslims, thereby creating tension. The situation was however controlled because of the earlier appeal by the acting governor to religious leaders in the state to preach peace to their followers.
The real drama began on 26 August, a day after Suntai was flown to the state, when a letter, purportedly written and signed by Suntai, was transmitted to the Assembly.
In the letter, which was addressed to the Speaker of the Assembly, Haruna Tsokwa, intimated the lawmakers that Suntai, who had been away in a German hospital and Johns Hopkins Hospital in America as a result of brain injury he sustained from the plane crash, was now healthy and back to take over the mantle of leadership of the state.
It was this letter that sparked off crisis in the Assembly, as most members doubted its authorsip. The members wondered how a speechless Suntai that was seen being carried like a doll the previous day by his aides could write a letter to the Assembly. But a few Suntai loyalists in the Assembly insisted it was possible.
Aside from this doubt, the lawmakers were said to have discovered several irregularities in the letter. Sources told this magazine that the signature on the letter was allegedly forged, while the language contained in the letter was said to be different from Suntai’s usual style of communication to the Assembly.
It was not only Assembly members that entertained this doubt; even a great number of those who had seen Suntai at the airport the previous day concluded that the letter must have been forged.
It was gathered that a majority of the lawmakers, because of the doubt, suggested that Suntai be invited to the Assembly to clear the air. This sparked off crisis between the few members loyal to Suntai and the majority, who insisted that if the governor was fit to write the letter, he should equally be physically sound to come to the Assembly.
While this argument was going on in the Assembly, the leadership of the House went to government house to pay Suntai a visit, probably to asses his condition of health, but were denied access to the ailing governor by his wife. Tension rose in the Assembly when the House leaders returned. They were bitter that the governor’s wife denied them access to Suntai. At about 4 p.m. on 26 August, the state executive council invited all PDP members in the Assembly to the party secretariat for a meeting over the political situation in the state. But while the meeting was going on, the Majority Leader of the House, Joseph Albasu Kunini, a Suntai loyalist, invited a section of the press and addressed them.
The majority leader, who told the journalists he was speaking on behalf of the Speaker, Haruna Tsokwa, announced that the Assembly had received a communication from Governor Suntai, adding that the governor was free to resume office. But Tsokwa debunked the statement a few hours later. Tsokwa described the action of the majority leader as criminal. According to Tsokwa, the Assembly never mandated Kunini to speak on its behalf. He maintained that as far as the Assembly was concerned, the acting governor is still in charge and not Suntai as claimed by Kunini.
Meanwhile, there was a melodrama in the state on 28 August, when the Suntai’s senior special assistant on Media, Mr. Slyvanus Giwa, at a press conference at the Exco Chambers in government house, announced the dissolution of the state Executive Council and appointment of the Attorney-General of the state, Timothy Kataps, as new SSG and Alhaji Aminu Jika, former commissioner for Information, as the new Chief of Staff.
Giwa disclosed that the announcement was a directive from Suntai. That was not all. Kataps argued that the Assembly has no power to invite the governor upon the transmission of a letter, adding that Section 190 (2) of the 1999 Constitution only provides that the governor can assume office, upon transmission of the letter to the Assembly when he is available.
Another controversy that ensued later in the night was the purported swearing-in of the new SSG and the Chief of Staff, shown on state television. Suntai was seen reading a speech during the swearing-in, which was performed in his room in government house. Many who viewed the swearing-in observed many loopholes. Many said it was a similar film trick played during the Yar’Adua era. In fact, a source close to government house revealed that Suntai could barely talk for only 15 minutes and relapses into his dumb self.
A statement issued by the Press Secretary to the Acting Governor, Mr. Kefas Sule, in the evening of 28 August urged the people of the state to remain calm as effort was being made to resolve the misunderstanding that ensued in the state since the arrival of Suntai.
The statement further urged the people of the state to disregard the announcement of the dissolution of the cabinet and appointment of the SSG as Chief of Staff. According to the statement, the announcement was a mere attempt by a cabal to hijack the machinery of governance in the state and not a directive from Governor Suntai.
Meanwhile, as the controversy arising from the purported video clip of the night of 28 August raged, the Assembly rose from a meeting on 29 August to announce its position on the political crisis in the state. A press release, signed by the Speaker, Haruna Tsokwa and made available to this magazine, stated that 16 out of the 24 members had signed in favour of the acting governor continuing in office.
The release said that, after a visit by the leadership of the Assembly to Governor Suntai the previous night, the members concluded that there was no way he could have authored any latter to the Assembly. The lawmakers advised Governor Suntai to go back to Amerca to seek further medication.
The decision of the Assembly attracted reactions from well-meaning Nigerians. Solomon Dalong, former speaker, Plateau House of Assembly and constitutional lawyer, applauded the decision. Dalong advised the cabal that smuggled Suntai into the country to find a way of returning him to the US for further medication.
Also, a Jalingo-based politician, Alhaji Bakari Bala, argued that the Assemly’s decision was in the best interest of Taraba State. He described those who masterminded the bring-Suntai-to-the-country as enemies of the state. “You cannot bring somebody who is half dead to govern a state,” said he.
Bakari described Suntai as someone who cannot reason on his own. “You see, Suntai is not better than an imbecile in his present condition. So how can he govern?” He said it was unfortunate that the cabal did not pity Suntai’s condition but was only interested in using the opportunity for their selfish interest.
The state Chairman of Conference of Nigeria Political Parties, Alhaji Suleima Hamidu, called on security agents to investigate the author of the letter, purported to have emanated from Suntai. He praised the lawmakers for taking the bold step of standing firm in the face of the gang-up against them by the cabal whose principal aim is to loot the treasury, using the name of sick Suntai.
The Governor’s Wife, Hajiya Hauwa Danbaba Danfulani Suntai is a graduate of the University of Maiduguri, Borno, her home state. Before her husband was elected governor in 2007, she was a lecturer with the College of Education, Jalingo. She already had three children, all female, before her test-tube babies – a boy and a girl – were delivered when her husband was on hospital bed in Germany.
The Cabal
•Senator Emannuel Bwacha, representing Taraba South in the Senate.
•Hajiya Hauwa, Suntai’s wife
• Istifanus Haruna Gbana, former speaker
•Former deputy speaker, Abel Peter Diah
•Charles Maijankai, former majority leader.
• Mike Useni, member representing Takum 1 in the state legislature
•Ambassador Emmanuel Njiwa, former SSG
•Alhaji Aminu Babale, Suntai’s aide
• Victor Bala Kona, the state PDP chairman
• Orkuma Denis Nev, former permanent secretary, Government House (Administration)
—Ben Adaji