While a committee of the PDP troubleshoots on the crisis in Taraba State, a suit is filed in an Abuja high court seeking what runs contrary to the spirit of the political compromise in Jalingo
By TAJUDEEN SULEIMAN
At last, reason has prevailed in Taraba and crisis has been averted – at least for now. The committee set up by the ruling Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, to intervene in the Taraba crisis was able to broker peace among the warring groups. Hope Uzodinma, the senator who led the committee on a fact finding mission to Jalingo, revealed last week that the party had resolved that Umar Garba, the acting governor, should continue to hold the forth. However, Garba was advised to rule in consultation with Danbaba Suntai, his ailing boss.
Uzodinma did not give any idea about Suntai’s health condition even though he said he visited and spoke with him. “I am not a medical doctor and so I cannot say anything about his health. But what is important is that I met and spoke with him,” he said. His committee also met with stakeholders in the state, after which it was agreed that Garba should continue as acting governor. He said, “He (Suntai) is also in support of the fact that the acting governor should continue to act and that he should always consult him and clear with him on major issues pending when he’s ready to fully take over the governance of the state, and this is agreeable to all parties.” Those who were at the press briefing by Uzodinma include members of the committee, the acting governor, state legislators, Hauwa, wife of the governor, his friend Senator Emmanuel Bwatcha and some other members of the national assembly. The acting governor also said that the stalemate over the constitution of the state executive had been resolved, stating that it would be reconstituted after consultations with the governor.
The compromise is an admission that Suntai is not yet medically fit to return to office. Curiously however, while the stakeholders were meeting in Jalingo, a contrary step was being taken on behalf of the governor somewhere in Abuja. A suit filed on behalf of Suntai by Alex Izinyon, Senior Advocate of Nigeria, SAN, is asking for a perpetual injunction baring the state legislature from debating the controversial letter sent to the House by the governor seeking to resume duty. The lawyer says it is ‘mandatory’ on the House to honour the letter without questioning.
What that means is that the committee may have to engage the parties once more on the matter. Because, if truly Suntai is in support of the agreement from the consultations, why would he brief a lawyer to challenge the legislators in court, and that in a high court outside the state?
Since he was flown back into the country two weeks ago, Suntai has not been seen in public. He made a controversial video broadcast to the state three days after he arrived, thanking the people for supporting him. But the video was believed to have been doctored, creating further doubts about his true state of health. The video footage shown when Uzodinma addressed the press showed the ailing governor sitting on a couch receiving some guest. But the audio was not played for viewers to hear him. This would have gone a long way to disprove claims that he was barely audible during his statewide broadcast.
The state assembly members were allowed to visit Suntai four days after he arrived, on the pretext that he was resting on doctor’s advice. But after the visit, 16 of the 24 legislators, including Haruna Tsokwa, the speaker, issued a statement doubting the letter of resumption of duty said to have been written by Suntai to the House. The legislators said the man they saw was not in a position to author the said letter.
They therefore said Garba should continue to rule as acting governor until when Suntai was fit to resume duties as governor. A resolution to that effect was made last week, since the legislators could not sit for one week because of division in the House. The decision reached at the meeting with stakeholders shows that the legislators may not have overreacted when they asked Garba to continue to run the sate.
Yet that action is said to have inflamed passion, as associates of the governor claimed that there was an ulterior motive in the decision of the House. Certain steps also increased tempo of events in the state that the party had to act to prevent a breakdown of law and order. The legislators were irked that Suntai’s first action after returning was to dissolve the cabinet and made two important appointments – that of the secretary to the state government and that of the chief of staff. The action, many believed, showed that those who brought Suntai back from the hospital only planned to use him for their own agenda. That was why the House alleged that some people were impersonating Suntai and giving orders in his name.
In a similar move, the acting governor, who had been allowed to see the governor since his arrival, instructed the state bankers to disregard any instruction regarding the finances of the state unless they verify that the signatures are truly that of Suntai or himself.
The court action should come as a surprise to those who read the lips of Bwatcha prior to the peace meeting in Jalingo. The senator, a friend of the governor, who is believed to be the leader of the group pushing for the governor to assume duty immediately, told journalists last week that the Taraba House was flouting the constitution by refusing to acknowledge Suntai’s letter that he was fit to resume. He said the constitution only says the governor should notify the House when he resumes, and not to appear in person. Bwatcha however refused to address the moral issue of whether Suntai was truly in sound mental state to resume duties.
The Nigerian Labour Congress has however advised stakeholders in the state to prevail on Suntai to voluntarily resign from office in the interest of the state. Issa Aremu, deputy vice president of the labour union, said last week that the forces that were bent on foisting Suntai on the state were not doing so in the interest of the state. He urged political leaders to play by the rules and live up to basic global best practices.
In its own contribution to the debate on Taraba, the Nigerian Medical Association said it was ready to make its expertise available in order to verify the true condition of Suntai. In a communiqué issued after its national executive council meeting in Sokoto, and signed by Osahon Enabulele, its president, the association also called on the National Assembly to enact a law creating the office of the Surgeon-General of Nigeria. The surgeon-general would be saddled with the responsibility of assessing the medical fitness of public officers and political office holders.