TARABA STATE IN FOCUS ... A THEATRE OF THE ABSURD : Gov. Suntai Sends Letter To House Of Assembly Asking To Resume As Governor ... SaharaReporters

Governor Danba Suntai emerging from a chartered private jet at the Abuja airport yesterday

By SaharaReporters, New York

A letter purportedly signed by the ailing governor of Taraba State, Danbaba Suntai, seeking to resume his office, was today received by the Speaker of the House of Assembly.

Mr. Suntai, who suffered serious brain injury in an air crash in Nigeria in October last year, was flown back from the United States yesterday by a cabal desperate to maintain control of political power in the state despite the governor’s evident incapacitation.  Doctors in the United States have said it is unlikely he will recover sufficiently to lead a normal life.

Upon his return yesterday, he appeared confused and was repeatedly being helped around by a circle of officials.  Neither in Abuja, at the airport in Jalingo nor at the Governors’s Lodge did he utter a word for, against or about anything.  SaharaReporters has consistently reported on his near-vegetative state and inability to function normally.

In the letter to the Assembly, sources say the governor claims that he has fully recovered from his injuries. The letter is being treated with derision by officials of the state who have so far been prevented from seeing or hearing from him 24 hours after his return.  

Meanwhile, Hajiya Hauwa, the wife of Mr. Suntai who is known to be coordinating the political hoax about her husband, told security chiefs who tried to visit him at home yesterday that he needed to observe bed rest for at least 72 hours.

The purported letter is apparently the handiwork of Mrs. Hauwa and several of his aides who are hell bent on creating a political crisis in the state that would enable President Goodluck Jonathan to declare a state of emergency there.

Taraba State has a high number of Christians as well as Muslims, and Mr. Suntai’s condition is being used by his supporters to whip up religious sentiments that would likely provoke a crisis.  The governor’s supporters seem determined not to let the deputy governor, a Muslim, assume power despite the governor’s incapacitation.

Meanwhile, the House of Assembly has said it would invite Mr. Suntai to come before the assembly and address them regarding his health and plans to resume work.

A legislative source in the state said the House will be meeting to consider Mr. Suntai’s letter any moment from now.