Taraba Assembly Gives Suntai Conditions to Resume Duties

Governor, Mr. Danbaba Suntai

• Lawmakers divided over governor’s return bid
•  Governor still shielded from deputy, House leadership

Chuks Okocha, Senator Iroegbu, Chineme Okafor and Grace Chimezie and Oluwole Ayodele 

Recuperating Taraba State Governor, Mr. Danbaba Suntai, who returned to Nigeria on Sunday after 10 months in Germany and the United States where he was receiving medical treatment, may not return to work so soon as the state House of Assembly is indisposed to grant his request expediently.

The governor, in line with Section 190 of the 1999 Constitution, had written the legislature to inform it of his return and readiness to resume his official duties.

Already, his attempt to assume executive duties has divided the leadership of the legislature.
Expressing doubts over the governor’s capacity to discharge the functions of his office as a result of the injuries he sustained in a plane crash in October 2012, the state assembly Speaker, Hon. Haruna Tsokwa, told reporters yesterday in Jalingo that Suntai must convince the lawmakers and the people that he was fit enough to resume work.

The situation in the state has also polarised civil society groups (CSOs) as some of them yesterday expressed divergent opinions on whether the governor was fit enough to resume state duties.

Suntai, Tsokwa added, must come out and address the people of the state before their elected representatives, adding that his failure to do so means he is not fit to run the affairs of the state and that the House would not hesitate to grant him leave to go back abroad for further treatment.

Earlier in the day, Majority Leader of the House, Hon. Joseph Albasu Kunini, had confirmed to some select journalists that Suntai had transmitted a letter to the assembly and consequent upon that, he had resumed as governor.
He said the assembly could not consider the letter because Tsokwa and his deputy, Hon. Tanko Makarfi, had absconded and gone into hiding, adding that they mandated him to address the press on the matter.

But debunking Kunini’s claim, the speaker, accompanied by the deputy speaker and the Deputy Majority Leader, Hon Josiah Sabo Kente, and some other lawmakers, said he did not run away nor had he mandated the majority leader to address the press on his behalf.

According to him, though the assembly has received the letter transmitted by the governor, it was yet to deliberate on it and until it does so and communicates the outcome to the relevant bodies, Alhaji Garba Umar would continue to function as the acting governor.
Explaining the rationale behind his call on Suntai to address the people through the assembly, Tsokwa maintained that in making the request, the legislature had no other motive other than their love for Taraba State and the well-being of Suntai and the happiness of his family.

He explained that throughout the governor’s hospitalisation, the people were united behind Suntai and his family and it was always a source of relief to them whenever news was received about his remarkable recovery.

He added that the demonstration of love and solidarity manifested itself in the massive turnout by all sections of the population to welcome him back to the state capital last Sunday, a turnout that he described as unprecedented.
He said events since Suntai’s return had demonstrated the desperation of a few individuals whose activities, if not checked, could polarise the state thereby bringing disunity.

Tsokwa accused some people of taking custody of the governor and giving the impression that he has fully recovered and ready to resume the onerous task of administering the state, when he has not.

“Since his return, our dear governor has been kept away from public view and all efforts by the honourable speaker and the House leadership to formally welcome the governor have been resisted by the few people that now constitute a cabal around Governor Suntai,” he said.

He described the activities of the cabal as an attempt to re-enact the late President Umaru Musa Yar’Adua saga, which according to him, nearly tore the nation apart.

Besides the assembly leadership, THISDAY gathered that Umar has not seen the governor since his arrival on Sunday.
He was said to have been to the Government House to see him but was told that the governor was asleep and he would be invited as soon as Suntai woke up.

Tsokwa however stated that as elected representatives of the people, the lawmakers would be failing in their duty to the people and God if they allowed the development to continue.

He said it was in the light of this that they were calling on Suntai to resist the temptation by those who want to use him for their selfish ends by coming out to address the people to allay fears over his state of health.

THISDAY also gathered that human rights lawyer, Mr. Femi Falana (SAN), would be visiting the state today as part of efforts to draw attention to the political situation in Taraba as well as broker peace among the contending groups.

But rising tensions in the state yesterday caused a sharp disagreement among civil society groups as they expressed divergent views on the governor’s return and whether or not he was fit to resume state duties.

A coalition of civil society organisations (CSOs) under the aegis of “Say No Campaign” described efforts by Suntai to resume work as a “social coup d’état” against the 1999 Constitution.
It noted that the return of the governor was reminiscent of the charade that played out in the days of the late Yar’Adua who was brought back into the country sick.

It accused some influential people in the state of being part of a plot to keep Suntai in power at all cost.
The coalition’s spokesman and Coordinator of United Action for Democracy, Mr. Jaye Gaskia, said at a press briefing in Abuja that it had made contact with other CSOs in the country as well as the Open Society Initiative for West Africa (OSIWA), to mobilise people for a mass protest against the situation in Taraba.

“Whereas we sympathise with Suntai and the people of Taraba State and wish him full recovery, we however condemn unequivocally the attempt by some political vultures within and outside the state that are bent on holding a whole state to ransom and make effective governance once again unrealistic.

“These charlatans have woven plots of deceit meant to hoodwink the Nigerian public in a manner similar to the unfortunate Turai-Yar’Adua saga. Deliberately, they continue to feed people with lies about the true state of Suntai,” he said.
A socio-political group, Taraba Justice Forum, aligned with the coalition’s position, adding that Suntai’s return was stage-managed for political expediency.

It said the governor’s health was a vindication of its position that the situation demanded an inquiry by the state assembly before he could resume duty.

In a statement by its General Secretary, John Ambulus, the group said the incapacitation of the governor could no longer be hidden and urged President Goodluck Jonathan to intervene immediately as a matter of urgent national importance.
“The president now has a sacred duty to intervene in this matter. The commander-in-chief should not allow this matter to degenerate. There is need for intervention as this is ridiculing the ruling party and the presidency,” it added.

Another group, Conscience Nigeria, however called on all stakeholders in the state to maintain the peace that was in place now that the governor has returned.
Its Executive Director, Mr. Tosin Adeyanju, at a press conference in Abuja yesterday said all concerned groups must work together in the interest of the state.

He said what had happened to Suntai was an accident and since “we all cannot play God who has preserved him thus far, we should be patient for him to attain full recovery.”

He cited cases of the late President Hugo Chavez of Venezuela, Fidel Castro of Cuba and former Israeli Prime Minister, Ariel Sharon, who were in comas for long periods without relinquishing power.