Happy Birthday to Governor Suntai of Taraba State Sun Aug 4th, 2013 - Benue By Tonnie Iredia On Sunday June 30, 2013, Governor Danbaba Suntai marked his 52nd birthday in far away New York, USA where he is recuperating from the injuries he sustained from a plane crash in October 2012. On the occasion, his deputy, Garba Umar who is currently acting as Governor of the State sent him a goodwill message on behalf of himself and the people of Taraba State. Was Suntai in a position to appreciate the gesture? It seems he was; going by media reports that he had greatly recovered from his poor health. The reports in earnest corroborated that of Governor Gabriel Suswan of Benue State who had visited Suntai a few days earlier. DANBABA SUNTAI As if to further paint a brighter picture of an improved state of health, Suntai was reported to have spoken on telephone with President Goodluck Jonathan and Vice President Namadi Sambo. Perhaps the most concrete evidence of a come-back-to- life posture of Suntai was a reception hosted in his honour by the former Nigerian Ambassador to the United Nations, Ambassador Kennedy F. Apoe at Staten Island, New York. With no new stories on Governor Suntai in the last one month, it is probably time to have faith in the man’s alleged miraculous recovery. If so, we should join millions of Nigerians particularly his teeming supporters in Taraba to thank God for Suntai’s life and to wish him many more years in the service of the fatherland. But then, we will not chastise anyone who still habours some doubt on the subject because, it is a familiar route that we have passed before. When the late President Yar’Adua was similarly in a critical health condition in 2010, there were “eye- witness” reports of how his condition had greatly improved until the nation lost him. On one occasion, a story was circulated of how the then President signed on his sick bed in Saudi Arabia, the budget taken to him from Nigeria by one of his key aides. On the President’s return home, it was arranged for the nation’s leading clerics to visit him ostensibly to convince the rest of us that all hope was not lost. What the clerics said at the end of the visit could only pass for a good researchable topic. In the case of Governor Suntai, the original stories are hard to forget. At first, it was alleged that he was brain damaged. Some of those who later visited him were quoted to have said he lost his memory. He is now said to be very conscious and can see, stand, eat and recognize all the people around him by their names. But the Governor who has been away for more than 9months cannot come home now because his doctors are yet to certify that he can withstand a long distance journey. What this suggests is that Taraba is likely to be without a Governor for no less than one year. The core issue which this situation brings to the fore is the uncommon nature and scope of Nigeria’s type of democracy. Ours is probably the only nation in the world where an elected political leader can be away from his duty post for as long as his cronies can procure intrigues to sustain him in office in absentia. At such times, the aides design several tales to deflate rumours of their principal’s whereabouts while the pace of development is reduced to snail’s speed because the deputy governor can hardly approve any meaningful funds. When Governor Liyel Imoke of Cross River State was away from his desk for a couple of months on what was described as “accumulated leave” no one knew the duration. The anxiety caused by his absence was obviously short-lived when compared to the much longer period of disappearance of Governor Sullivan Chime of Enugu State. This latest one of Governor Suntai which is stretching for longer than makes sense is irritating. The suggestion by frontline lawyer, Fred Agbaje that a period of incapacity to be statutorily allowed a Governor should not be more than 3 weeks has its merits but it will not work in Nigeria even if put in the constitution. In Nigeria legal provisions have no efficacy because our political leaders hold-on only to the letter and never the spirit of a law. That is why for instance, a Governor would appoint members of his political party into an electoral commission to conduct elections between his own party to which the electoral commissioners also belong and other parties. Any objection by the opposition is usually brushed off with the argument that the commissioners were cleared by the legislature as provided by the constitution. Do we need a constitution to tell us that the referee of a contest should be neutral and not be picked from one of the teams in the contest? Our problem is not really whether we have a good constitution or not; the real problem is our unpreparedness to abide by the provisions of the constitution. For example, Section 183 of our constitution says that a Governor shall not; during the period of his office hold any other office or employment. Section 308 of the same constitution protects the same Governor from any civil or criminal proceedings during the same period. The combined spirit of the two sections is that nothing should distract a Governor in the performance of his duty. Yet, the same Governor who has all it takes to remain committed to governance is, as in the case of Suntai, not even around let alone to be distracted! Again, because our constitution envisaged that only persons with ample integrity would be appointed as Commissioners in a state, they were empowered by Section 189 to determine when a Governor becomes incapable of performing his duties. How can that happen in a country where State Commissioners worship a Governor’s children? Interestingly, rather than encourage Taraba Commissioners to live up to their mandate, their party – the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP – with its own hidden agenda sought to investigate Suntai’s health status which a court stopped. So, Nigeria watches as Taraba State battles with stunted growth in the absence of full-time governance.
Posted on: Sun, 04 Aug 2013 08:26:57 +0000
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