The relatively peaceful political atmosphere in Taraba state is once again asphyxiated with the second coming of the ailing governor Danbaba Suntai. He returned to the country penultimate Saturday after spending some months in the United Kingdom where he underwent medical treatment. Suntai’s travails began on October 25, 2012, when he crashed his private aircraft during a night flight to the Yola Airport. He was said to have mistaken the lightings at an NNPC fuel station for the airport runway and lowered the aircraft, resulting in the fatal crash.
The governor was rushed to Germany and later ended up in the United States of America for proper medical attention where he spent 10 months at the John Hopkins Hospital. He was still in a state of incapacitation when he was flown back to the country by a cabal in a bid to frustrate the acting governor. However, the ploy did not work because it was too obvious that the governor was in a terrible mental condition. He was then flown to the United Kingdom where he had been until his second return which is aimed at throwing spanner in the works ahead of the governorship primary election in the state with the acting Governor, Alhaji Umar Garba, as the main target.
Following the drama that unfolded in Abuja which points to the fact that the governor’s condition is no better than it was previously, the Taraba House of Assembly has set up a five-man medical panel based on the provisions of Section 189 (1)(b) of the 1999 Constitution. The decision followed the directive from the state executive council, mandating the House to investigate the ailing governor’s health. The findings of the panel should put to rest this charade once and for all. But it appears the end to the logjam is not in sight if view of the legal implications of Suntai appearing before any such panel as stated last week by the state attorney-general and commissioner for justice, Mr. Timothy Kataps, who is also a member of the executive council that gave the directive to the House.
However, the scenario in Taraba would not have dragged to this level if our politicians are patriotic and sincere in their handling of the affairs of their various states. The ill-health that plagued the late president Umaru Musa Yar’Adua ought to have served as a lesson. When it was obvious that the late president was grossly incapacitated, a cabal that wanted to hang on to power did everything unimaginable to prop him up. His vice president, Dr. Goodluck Jonathan, was fenced off and kept in the dark. Even when he eventually succumbed to death, the National Assembly had to invoke the “Doctrine of Necessity” to get Jonathan to assume full presidential powers. In the case of Taraba state, Suntai’s deputy has remained in an acting capacity two years after his principal’s misadventure. The proxy war between the duo’s loyalists is a travesty of democracy.
Expectedly, those to whom the governor, believed to be mentally unstable, is their cash cow would not give up easily even as his tenure winds up in a few months from now. The consequence of this posture is obvious. It has been a tale of one step forward, two steps backward as the socio-political and economic situation of the state gradually grinds to a halt. It is imperative to allow the ailing governor sufficient time to attend to his health challenges, while the acting governor is given all the support and cooperation he needs to run the affairs of the state without needless distractions. We urge the associates of the ailing governor to toe the path of honour by allowing the dictates of the Constitution to take their course.