Governor
Danbaba Suntai of Taraba State, who was seriously injured when his
plane crashed on October 25 in Yola, capital of Adamawa State, has
reportedly suffered extensive brain damage and even failed to recognize
members of a presidential delegation that visited him at a hospital in
Hanover, Germany, an authoritative source has told SaharaReporters.
A
source close to a senior member of the delegation which was led by
Senate President, David Mark, included Governor Ibrahim Yakowa of Kaduna
State, President Goodluck Jonathan’s chief of staff, Mike Oghiadomhe,
also on the delegation was John Kennedy Opara, the secretary of the
Nigerian Christian Pilgrim Commission (NCPC) and the Chaplain of the
Presidential Villa Chapel, Venerable Obioma Onwuzurumba, described the
trip to see Mr. Suntai as highly secretive. SaharaReporters learnt that
members of the delegation had officially traveled to Vatican City in
Rome to witness the consecration of Archbishop John Onaiyekan as a
Cardinal of the Catholic Church. After the ceremony in Italy, the
delegation then made a quick detour to Germany to see the injured Mr.
Suntai.
Our
source said members of the delegation were shocked to see Mr. Suntai in
a vegetative state. “His condition was so bad that they could not
publicly disclose his condition after they returned to Nigeria,” said
the source.
Since
Mr. Suntai’s airlift to Germany, officials of the Taraba State
government have engaged in propaganda, claiming that the governor was
making remarkable recovery. But our sources, including an official of
the state government, admitted that Mr. Suntai’s mental faculty had
deteriorated since the accident and that his memory was virtually
impaired.
“It
is possible that he suffered brain damage because there was some delay
before he could be taken abroad,” said a state official.
A
Taraba-born political activist who is based in Abuja, has likened the
present hide and seek game on the status of the Taraba state governor to
the days of late president Umaru Musa Yar’Adua when his true state of
health was concealed from Nigerians in order to prevent his vice,
Goodluck Jonathan from being sworn-in as acting president.
According
to him: “We all know how President Umaru Yar’Adua’s people continued to
deceive Nigerians that the man was recovering well and how they even
brought him back in a comatose state and declared that he was in control
of Nigeria,” said the activist. He added: “I hope President Jonathan
and the PDP are not planning a similar scenario whereby they will
declare that Governor Suntai is in control – until they find a malleable
successor who suits them.
“The
fact that the people of Taraba have not heard from or seen the governor
since the air crash on October 25 2012 means that the man is no longer
fit to govern them,” he said.
Culled From Saharareporters
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