TARABA REPORT: We cannot betray Gov Suntai,to favour Ag Garba Umar. ----------------------------------- LEGISREPORTS NG – We the under signed were members of Governor Danbaba Suntai’s dissolved cabinet. And the primary reason why we are not in the Garba Umar’s cabinet today is because we refuse to betray our boss and be part of what is clearly a political perfidy in Taraba state. We therefore find it amusing that in his recent interview, Umar lied that he sacked us because of some spurious indictment by a panel on a flood fund heist. The interview on page 93 of THISDAY newspaper of 24th August, 2014 dripped of half truths and an attempt at pulling wools over the eyes of unsuspecting Nigerians. But many people from Taraba state who read the interview saw the lies and deception which are vintage Umar who has enmeshed Taraba state in one of the most dangerous political crisis in the state’s history. In time, we shall respond to all the lies he told in that interview but for now, let’s concentrate on what he had to say about the illegal cabinet which he now presides over. The question asked was “it was reported that you sacked those loyal to to Suntai, what is the true position?” This was Umar’s answer: “I did not do that. What actually happened was that, I think the first thing I did was to boot out some commissioners and the former SSG and the reason was that we had a flood in Taraba, and (sic) federal government was able to allocate to us to be able to assist the flood victims. Somewhere along the line, these funds were tampered with by these officials, so the state House of Assembly instituted a committee that really went down, made some inquiries and came out with the result that this money has been tampered with. Those that were involved with this scandal were the ones I chased out of government. But those that did not tamper with the funds are still in government. So it is not true that those loyal to my boss had been booted out, that is not correct.” Ordinarily, this sounds so self righteous and pious of a man who today presides over a broke state- a state in the news recently for monumental fraud running up to billions as announced by the EFCC. But that is a matter for another day when all the theft of the SURE-P funds, the lootings, the banal sale of lands and all Umar’s corrupt profile shall be exposed! We have the details! As for the lies he told concerning the cabinet, here, ladies and gentlemen is the truth. As soon as Suntai had the crash, Umar’s political advisers told him he has to become the substantive governor by all means necessary. This advisers consist mostly of opposition elements and just about anyone who never like Governor Suntai. Umar found them and surrounded himself with them. For these bunch of people an Umar governorship was not to be negotiated. They had one problem though: Suntai’s structure was firmly in control of the House of Assembly, the Cabinet and the PDP party leadership. Removing all of these was thus the first task. Before anyone saw it coming, he changed the leadership of the House of Assembly. He got a Speaker, the late Haruna Tsokwa, who was amenable to all his schemes. The only snag was that some mebers saw through his diabolic plot and remained loyal to Suntai. The entire muslim members in the house aligned with Umar for obvious reason. A sprinkling of Christian members also flowed with Umar, thus given him an edge there. The eventual death of his speaker only compounded issues for Umar as he couldn’t use the House the way he wanted. Today, although he still boasts of a majority in that House, (see the THISDAY interview) it is clear that the romance has fizzled out. Now, Umar knew the cabinet back then was people by Suntai’s men and, just as he did in the House, he needed an SSG and commissioners who would essentially grant him his wishes. He set out to have a cabinet made in his image. The SSG, Ambassador Emmanuel Njiwa, was his main headache. He couldn’t also trust many of the Christian commissioners in his cabinet. Fortunately for him, the Flood probe was already going on. The probe was on how the fund was used to address the flood crisis in the state. There was an outcry that the items purchased were over priced and that they never really got to the victims. The House of Assembly had stopped the probe noting that it could wait for the return of Suntai as he was the one that set up the committees. But with a new leadership at the House of Assembly, Umar quickly dusted up the matter and a new committee headed by an anti Suntai legislator took over. In what looked like the Nuremberg trials but without any intention to have a fair trial, Umar’s men in House rushed the probe and “indicted” the SSG and 5 commissioners. The sixth commissioner that would have been indicted I.e the commissioner of health, Prince Mustapha Hamman Gabdo, a Muslim, was given the option to resign. Gabdo’s sister was to be later given a commissioner’s slot to compensate Gabdo who was chairman of one of the committees whose members were all sacked. The commissioners Umar sacked were all Christians: they are Mrs. Charity Green, Rebo Usman, Anthony Jellason, Yakubu Agbaizo, and Jonah Agyo, now late who was not even given the chance to clear his name before the panel. He was on his sick bed in Israel when his sack was announced. The matter of that sack is now in court. Now with six commissioners booted out of the cabinet, there were only seven commissioners left. Umar also appointed a new SSG and Chief of staff (he has since sacked the chief of staff he appointed. How an acting governor can have a chief of staff and appoint an SSG is still a wonder). It was in the midst of this state of confusion that Governor Suntai returned to the country. One of the action of Suntai was to dissolve the cabinet due to the confusion Umar had introduced. The next day after Suntai dissolved was remained of his cabinet, Umar rejected the Governor’s order. He then gave a counter order that all commissioners should return to their post. While four commissioners complied with Umar’s new directives, three, namely: the commissioner of Justice, Kataps Gebon, commissioner of finance, Illiya Wanapia, and commissioner of Information, Emmanuel Bello, tendered their handing over notes and complied with Suntai’s order. Some Special advisers also decided to go with Suntai while others remained with Umar. Umar, now left with four commissioners out of the original Suntai squad of 13 commissioners, went ahead to “fill in” the spaces with hand picked men and a woman who are decidedly pro-Umar. Today, the cabinet is peopled by politicians who either dislike Suntai or are fiercely committed to Umar. When he recently formed his campaign team, it was this cabinet members who were in the forefront of canvassing for an Umar’s governorship. Clearly, Umar now has the cabinet he needs. What remain to be seen now is how an illegal cabinet would pull this off, especially considering that as far as Governor Suntai is concerned, his cabinet has been dissolved. Signed: Rebo Usman Emmanuel Bello Yakubu Agbaizo Charity Green Anthony Jellason Gebon Kataps Illiya Wanapia Former Suntai’s Commissioners Forump
Posted on: Mon, 25 Aug 2014 09:36:43 +0000
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