Following the return of the sick Taraba State Governor, Danbaba Suntai to Nigeria on Sunday after under-going series of critical treatment in the United State and Germany, constitutional lawyer and Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN), Itse Sagay, among other political commentators have decried the politics in play.
Sagay condemned what he called politics of the return of ailing Suntai, as a creation “a theatre of the absurd” by the Governor’s associates who organised his return on Sunday.
Hence, he maintained that Suntai was not yet fit to perform his responsibility as a Governor and complained that some set of people who were bent on maintaining their grip on power were taking advantage of his situation because of their selfish interests.
“I think they should have allowed the Deputy Governor to continue in acting capacity and give the man enough time to take care of himself.
“If the sickness is too much, then he should resign and concentrate on his health instead of creating a theatre of absurd as we currently have in Taraba State,” he said.
“From what we see on television and newspapers, the man is still in a delicate state and is unfit to function in the capacity of a Governor.
“What is most annoying is an attempt by some of his loyalists who are barring the media from making enquiries about his actual state of health”, Sagay further noted.
Also, reacting to the issue, the Committee for the Defence of Democracy and Rights of the People (CDRP), demanded immediate public disclosure of the actual condition of health of the ill Governor.
This was during a press conference in Lagos on Monday, when Executive Director of the group, Amitolu Shittu, explained that the trend of events in Taraba State in the past few months has been of tremendous concern to all progressive elements in the state in particular and Nigeria as a whole.
The group also demanded that the Governor be allowed to address a press conference to assure residents of Taraba State who elected him that he was fit to continue in the discharge of the affairs of state.
Shittu said that since the plane crash involving Suntai the administration of the state has been turned to a toy in the hands of a “cabal who believes that the fate of the state and its residents must be theirs to determine as they wish.”
Afenifere chieftain, Yinka Odumakin, on his part, said Nigeria may be witnessing a repeat of the Yar’Adua scenario given the way he (Suntai) was brought back when he has not regained full consciousness.
Odumakin also argued that Nigerians need to see Suntai speak and perform his responsibilities as Governor before they can conclude that he is in the right frame of mind to resume his position.
“It is obvious that all is not well with the man from his gaze, the way he was being lifted from the aircraft without saying a word and the way he was looking.
“We need to see him perform his official duties to know that he is of sound health and that he is in the right frame of mind to govern his state and that we are not seeing another Yar’Adua scenario playing itself out again.
“But given what we saw, someone who is away for 10 months should have spoken to journalists at the airport, but he was whisked away.
“So, let us wait and see what happens in the days ahead before we conclude,” Odumakin said.
Suntai was aided back to the country after 10 months of sojourn in medical centers in both Germany and the United States of America.
Suntai however, is still looking very frail and unable to utter audible words as at the time he was ushered in to the country. He had first been flown to Germany before being transferred to the U.S. in February 2013 following the injuries he sustained in a helicopter he personally flew on October 25, 2012.
Meanwhile, Governor of Adamawa State, Murtala Nyako said on Monday when he visited Suntai in Jalingo, Taraba State capital, that he is happy to see him (Suntai) alive. He also said he prays for his quick recovery so that ‘we can join hands and continue the good work that we have been doing for our people’.
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