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…Acting governor plots swearing-in as substantive governor
The political crisis in Taraba State is reverberating in far-away United States as a committee set up by Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) to ascertain the health status of Governor Danbaba Suntai is reportedly stranded in the western country.
Following conflicting reports on the condition of Suntai’s health, PDP national chairman, Alhaji Bamanga Tukur in late May appointed a seven-man committee to determine the true status of the hospitalised governor’s health.
Headed by Senator Hope Uzodinma, other members of the committee are presidential adviser Alhaji Ahmed Gulak, Alhaji Shittu Mohammed, Bala Buhari, Richard King, Bolajoko Doherty, and Alhaji Abubakar Garda, the secretary.
The committee reportedly arrived in the US Thursday. Gulak, on behalf of the committee, announced to Mrs Suntai on the telephone that they were in the US to “visit” her husband in hospital.
Sources close to the delegation told Pointblanknews.com that Mrs Suntai thanked Gulak for being kind enough to visit her husband 10 months after he survived a plane crash, and promised to facilitate the visit. According to the sources, she never did.
Gulak and his team, it was gathered, spent the weekend in the US making frantic but unsuccessful efforts to visit the hospitalised governor. Pointblanknews.com could not confirm when the frustrated committee would return to Nigeria.
Pointblanknews.com gathered that, unknown to the committee, Mrs Suntai had been advised against allowing them visit the hospital, let alone see her husband.
Suntai is reportedly upset by the recent sack by acting Governor Garba Umar, of the Secretary to the State Government (SSG), six commissioners and four special advisers appointed by him.
Interestingly, like Suntai, the SSG, Ambassador Njiwah, and all the commissioners and advisers sacked by Umar, a muslim, are christians.
Apart from also being muslims, the PDP national chairman Tukur and presidential adviser Gulak, are from Adamawa State.
Taraba and Adamawa were carved out of the now defunct Gongola state.
Pointblanknews.com gathered that the Suntai’s supporters believe that Tukur and Gulak have been conscripted by Umar into laying the foundation for his eventual swearing-in as substantive governor.
The PDP committee, they believe, is only a smokescreen for a report that would be forced down the throats of members of the Taraba state legislators.
“Having successfully removed principal officers of the House believed to be Suntai’s men, the Assembly has become very vulnerable. Anything PDP says from Abuja would undoubtedly become their Holy Grail,” noted one observer.
The source said comments by the PDP national chairman at the inauguration of the Uzodinma committee only fuelled the suspicion in Suntai’s camp.
Tukur had charged the committee to; “Interact and establish the most effective approach to reduce to the barest minimum, the fears of all the contending interest in Taraba State.”
He further charged them to “fast track the process of constitutional adherence as it affects the current status of the office of the governor of Taraba State.”
Not done, the PDP national chairman tasked the panel to “ensure that in all practical implications, the PDP Taraba emerge stronger and more united in responding to all the partisan challenges arising thereafter in the state.”
In addition, Tukur advised the committee to “consider and report any other matter that is, in the opinion of this committee, relevant in the resolution of the political condition of the state.”
A former national officer of the party from the north told Pointblanknews.com that Tukur’s comments at the inauguration clearly exposed on whose side of the Taraba political divide he was.
He noted; “Tukur didn’t comport himself like a statesman. His comments were clearly partisan. To begin with, look at the composition of the committee. Apart from Uzodinma and Doherty, all the other members are muslims.
“And when you consider that Senator Hope (Uzodinma) and Doherty are from the south-east and south-west respectively, the may completely be at sea as far as Taraba politics is concerned. The key members of the committee, who incidentally are from the North, are all muslims,” he alleged.
He further alleged that Umar of the Izalla muslim sect is under tremendous pressure from prominent muslims, including very powerful northern traditional and religious leaders, to take over and make history as the first muslim governor of the state.
Another top PDP chieftain from Niger State told Pointblanknews.com that the Umar governorship was being championed by a powerful emir from Sokoto State.
According to him, the recent gale of sack of commissioners and advisers in Taraba State was collateral damage in the attempt to hunt down the strongest Suntai loyalist, the SSG Ambassador Njiwah.
He alleged, “The only way to take out Suntai is to declare him permanently incapacitated. This can only be done if the state executive committee passes a resolution that Suntai is medically unfit to continue as governor. The resolution can only be conveyed in a letter endorsed by the SSG, who doubles as secretary of council.
“Now, with Njiwah as SSG and with the crop of commissioners Umar sacked, I don’t see such letter coming. The smart thing therefore to do was to frame them up by any means up and sack them. A clear message has been sent to the remaining commissioners. Mark my words, barring any last minute changes, Taraba exco is now a sitting duck for Umar to pull the trigger,” observed the source.
A senior lawyer who did not want to be named, offered “Note that Section 189 of the 1999 Constitution as amended says the governor or deputy governor of a state shall cease to hold office if by a resolution passed by two-thirds majority of all members of the executive council of the state it is declared that the governor or deputy governors is incapable of discharging the functions of his office.
“This declaration has to, however, be verified by a medical panel of five (one of who must be the personal physician of the holder of the office concerned) to be appointed by the Speaker of the State House of Assembly.”
He stressed, “From the way things are as of today (Friday) Suntai can be history any moment.”
Pointblanknews.com also gathered that the recent publicised visit by Governor Gabriel Suswam of Benue State to Suntai completely altered the political calculations of the Umar camp.
After the US visit, Suswam who is considered a friend of the Presidency, reportedly visited President Goodluck Jonathan and relieved details of his encounter with Suntai.
He told journalists after the visit to Jonathan to “forget” all the talks about Suntai’s incapacitation, stressing, “it is just politics.”
He said, ”It is not true, I was with him (Suntai) and he spoke with the Vice President on telephone for about three minutes. Even if that was the case, he has regained it and he is doing very well and recuperating in America.
”That was apparently the position he was in when people saw him initially at the German hospital when he was in a critical condition after the air crash, and that is what they are spreading around.
“The truth is that he has substantially recovered and there is nothing; If you look at him, you would not know that he was involved in a plane crash, because he spoke and did things by him self contrary to the stories we were told,” declared Suswam.
The governor’s revelation on Suntai, Pointblanknews.com investigations revealed, greatly ruffled several feathers, particularly in amongst Umar’s loyalists.
The acting governor’s strategists were said to have advised that plans to oust Suntai be put on hold “until a more favourable time.”
A security source told Pointblanknews.com that there had been initial subtle attempts by Umar to soft-soap Njiwah into dumping Suntai and be nominated deputy governor in the event of his (Umar’s) elevation to the substantive position of governor.
According to the source, Njiwah’s body language suggested he wouldn’t accept to sacrifice Suntai for even the position of governor.
“It was when this option failed,” offered the source, “that they resorted to Plan B, which was to sack the SSG alongside some key commissioners.”
The source however added, “In sacking the officials, the acting governor didn’t do a tidy job. He left his foot and hand prints everywhere, and this explains why the sacked officials might floor them in court.”
He handed Pointblanknews.com a copy of the original report of the House of Assembly which indicted “the office of the Secretary to the State Government.”
He explained: “When they went through the report, they felt that it wasn’t strong enough. That ‘office of the SSG’ was to vague. So, they had to change it to the Secretary to the State Government just to get at Njiwah.
Added a lawyer, “Even at that, the 13-page Assembly report was fraught with contradictions and lies. For instance, they claimed that the SSG took over the chairmanship of the main committee that disbursed the N400 million. This cannot be true.
“Governor Suntai appointed deputy governor Umar chairman. In law, we say, delegatus non potest dele gare, meaning delegated power cannot be delegated. In other words, Acting Governor, who was appointed chairman of the committee that disbursed the N400 million, cannot now say, ‘oh! I handed over to the SSG.
“So if the SSG, a mere member of the committee, is to be made to shoulder the responsibility of any missing money, then the chairman, in this case, acting governor Umar, should be more liable,” he argued.
Pointblanknews.com investigations revealed that Umar chaired the committee meetings of 18th October 2012, and 20th November 2012, well after he had become acting governor.
Both meetings fixed prices of the items to be bought by the committees.. Minutes of the were signed by Umar (Deputy Governor) and Isa T. Hassan (officer taking notes).
The lawyer expressed surprise at the basis for the legislators’ report.
“Even the yardstick used by the lawmakers defy logic. The original report said chairman of sub-committee B, Commissioner for Health. Mustapha Hamman Gabdo should account for over N12 million. Acting Governor Umar asked him to “honourably resign.
“On the other hand, the doctored report, an afterthought, now included sub- committee A, headed by Suntai’s loyalist Anthony Jellason, to account for N8 million. He was sacked. What kind of logic is in sacking a person who was falsely accused of not properly accounting for N8 million, and asking the one who can’t account for over N12 million to resign?” he quizzed.
“In any case, the dishonourable members of the State Assembly have amply demonstrated that they are men of straw. Committee A chairman Jellason submitted a 108-page report. Hamman Gabdo failed to submit even a page, yet he was asked to resign apparently because he is a blue-blooded muslim. They will all have their day in court,” he opined.
With Umar’s leg men in charge of the state legislature, and a new SSG in charge, a top politician from the state predicted that Suntai’s days as governor were numbered.
“They have perfected moves to finish Suntai. The remaining commissioners are too cowed to lift a finger in defence of Suntai. They plan to act fast and obtain a medical report by hook or by crook. Once they get that, the legislators who are on standby would pass a resolution mandating Umar’s swearing-in as governor.
“Whenever Suntai returns, they’ll tell him to go to court if he feels strongly about his mandate. The case will drag until 2015 when Umar would have consolidated enough to clinch the PDP ticket,” he predicted.
Umar became acting governor in November, 2012- 21 days after Suntai suffered a plane crash near Yola. Sources told Pointblanknews.com that he initially pretended to be loyal, until friends and political associates began to mount pressure on him to “take charge.”
Suntai reportedly suffered head injuries when his aircraft crashed on October 25, 20012. He spent a few days at the National Hospital, Abuja, before been flown to a German hospital. A few months ago, he was moved to the US, and has reportedly being undergoing therapy.
Copies of meetings sourced by Pointblanknews.com revealed that Umar chaired the committee meetings of 18th October 2012 and Tuesday 20th November 2012.
The documents puncture claims by Umar’s Chief Press Secretary, Mr. Kefas Sule that Umar handed over to the SSG the moment he was elevated to the position of acting governor.
The documents also revealed that meetings fixed and approved the prices of items bought by the indicted committees. Both minutes were signed by Umar (acting Governor) and Isa T. Hassan (officer taking notes)
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