Governor Danbaba Suntai of Taraba State, who was seriously injured
when his plane crashed on October 25 in Yola, capital of Adamawa State,
has suffered extensive brain damage and 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 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.
A trip put together by Gladys Modupeola Quist-Adebiyi, a staff of
the Protocol Department at the Presidency was led by Senate President,
David Mark, the delegation 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.
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.
SaharaReporters gathered that Mr. Suntai suffered brain damage in
the crash of the small plane he was piloting. The crash happened a short
distance from the Yola airport. Initial reports from eyewitnesses said
Mr. Suntai had died, but it later emerged that he had survived the
crash, albeit with critical injuries. He was transferred to the National
Hospital in Abuja before being airlifted to Germany after President
Jonathan had visited him and given a rosy picture of his condition. Four
state officials traveling with Mr. Suntai in the crashed plane were
treated in hospitals in Adamawa and later transferred to Germany for
treatment after a public outcry.
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.
Contacted by SaharaReporters, a Taraba-born political activist who
is based in Abuja said he had also heard about the visit to the ailing
governor by Senate President Mark's delegation. He wondered if Mr.
Mark’s silence on Governor Suntai's health status signaled a scheme by
President Jonathan to delay the swearing in of the deputy governor as
the substantive governor.
“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 activist stated that the Presidency should state the truth about
the injured governor’s condition to enable the people of Taraba to move
ahead with a new administration. “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.
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