Governor Danbaba Suntai's return and the imperatives of caution in Taraba

Governor Danbaba Suntai's return and the imperatives of caution in Taraba 

By Abdulkareem Haruna Umar

"The hottest place in Hell is reserved for those who remain neutral in times of great moral conflict" -  Martin Luther King, Jr.

The theatrics that is being played out in Taraba state borders on two issues; law and morality. 

And if not handled carefully, might end up igniting a massive conflict, even worse than that of the Boko Haram. 

Yes! It is the constitutional right of Governor Danbaba Suntai to immediately seek to take over his seat as the executive governor of the state, at least after his 10 months long absence away from home.

It is even  a travesty of law for the Speaker of the State House of Assembly, to contemplate rejecting Governor Suntai's executive communication no matter what! 

But it is also an assault on morality for any one to contemplate  imposing a man who has been prescribed medically unfit  yet to preside over a state. 

The speaker of Taraba Assembly may have looked at the issue of morality in allowing a man who is barely conscious of his actions to take over the state's ship. 

The lawmakers should have been given an earlier benefit of seeing their governor on behalf of the people of the state, whom they represent at the Assembly. All they wanted, I guess, was to be sure that no one hoodwinked them into signing a legislation that would at the end turn out to be a charade. 

It is also wrong to deny an acting chief executive like deputy Governor Garba Umar, the man in whose hand the law of the state placed the state, to meet his returning governor at the airport. Though the former Information Commissioner, Emmanuel Bello, said the crowd was too much to allow the deputy exchange pleasantly with Governor Suntai, many who know how government protocol question that who is the crowd -"the deputy being the highest government office holder at the airport, should be the first crowd", a friend of mine said. 

Till the governor wrote to the assembly, dissolved his cabinet, appointed new SSG and Chief of Staff, he hadn't met with his deputy. 

The situation did not only polarized the state on religious lines, it has also severely slit the ruling PDP;  a group of PDP youths had to stage a solidarity rally in Favour of the speaker, after another group of youths in the party earlier assaulted him. 

But the members Of Taraba state House of Assembly had to insist on seeing the governor on the 28 of August and their brief meeting with him, according to a newspaper report "cast doubt over his authorship of a letter he purportedly wrote and transmitted to the Speaker of the assembly". 

The members had to toe the line of morality by declaring that "the man was still too sick to resume as governor"

"The Speaker, Hon Haruna Tsokwa, and supported with the signatures of 16 out of the 24 members of the House of Assembly, the legislators unanimously resolved that the deputy governor upon whom power was earlier transmitted by the State House of Assembly remains the Acting Governor of the state and would therefore continue to act in that regard until such a time Suntai is capable of administering the state". l

Members of the Taraba state House of Assembly yesterday declared that their visit to ailing Governor Danbaba Danfulani Suntai cast doubt over his authorship of a letter he purportedly wrote and transmitted to the Speaker of the assembly. They said the man was still too sick to resume as governor.

In a speech delivered by the Speaker, Hon Haruna Tsokwa, and supported with the signatures of 16 out of the 24 members of the House of Assembly, the legislators unanimously resolved that the deputy governor upon whom power was earlier transmitted by the State House of Assembly remains the Acting Governor of the state and would therefore continue to act in that regard until such a time Suntai is capable of administering the state.

He said: “The leadership of the Taraba State House of Assembly made several efforts to see him since his arrival, but till yesterday, the 28th August, 2013, that we were allowed access to the ailing governor, and our visit revealed that he spoke in a manner that brought more doubt to his authorship of the letter purportedly transmitted to the Speaker of the state House of Assembly. We are all living witnesses to the way and manner the governor was brought into the state on Sunday, 25th of August, 2013.

“Be that as it may, we the undersigned members of the state House of Assembly have unanimously resolved in our meeting that the deputy governor, upon whom power was earlier transmitted by the state House of Assembly, still remains the Acting Governor of Taraba state and he will continue to act in that regard until such a time the governor is capable of administering the state.”

Acting Governor Umar, had to issue a caveat to all banks managing the funds of the state "not to honour any signature with the exception of that of Governor Suntai and his own, stressing that the bankers must ensure strict verification of the two signatures before honouring any financial instrument relating to the state’s accounts".

Newspaper reports quoted Umar accusing "a cabal of an attempt to hijack the machinery of government and therefore advised the public to discountenance the purported dissolution of the state executive council, saying the directive did not emanate from Suntai but the design of the cabal". 

Renown Lagos lawyer and human right activist, Chief Femi Falana (SAN), who spoke on the budding turmoil in Taraba during  53rd Annual General Meeting of the Nigeria Bar Association (NBA), in Calabar.

He said: “Unfortunately, another political cabal has emerged in Taraba state to cause confusion and to deny the governor the opportunity to have himself fully treated. They make it look as if he was back into the country to achieve certain political selfish interests.

“It is very dangerous for us that this culture of impunity has continued unchecked.

“If the governor has recovered fully and is prepared to resume his duty, he should appear in his office, attend to his files, and allow his deputy to brief him about the situation in the state since he was away.

“We should remember what the nation went through during the late President Umaru Yar’Adua’s ill health. The current president, who was the vice president then, was shielded away from seeing him. The Senate President and Speaker of the House of Representatives were not allowed to see the sick president. This scenario should not repeat itself.”

The crux of all these legal/political and moral battle lies on the question whether Suntai is fit physically and sound mentally to rule the people of Taraba. 

To answer that question I avail to us a medical exposé written some two months after Governor Suntai had his plane crash, by a USA based Certified Advanced Trauma Specialist Dr Stella Oritsejemite and culled from Saharan Reporters on January 3, 2014. 

Please read on:- 

Governor Suntai And Traumatic Brain Injury 

By Stella Oritsejemite

"I do not know Governor Suntai.  I do not know Taraba state, and have no stake in it. However, I am fiercely Nigerian. I also recognize trauma and a Traumatic Brain Injury when I see one. 

I saw the photograph of the governor and his family last night: the first since his air crash and I just felt, and to my horror too, that we are going down the same irresponsible path which we walked during the Yar’adua saga. Just as I did then, I am going to write my medical opinion on this man and I hope those who want to kill the messenger will be more responsible.

We woke up to the news of this man's survival from a helicopter crash sometime late last year. Reports had it that he was initially thought to have died, but some pastoralists saw him at the scene of the accident and alerted the authorities that he still had some life in him. Whatever the truth may be, one thing is constant, the man was in an air accident.

Of course, he no doubt suffered TRAUMATIC BRAIN INJURY SECONDARY TO BLUNT FORCE TRAUMA as a result of the chopper accident. Please note that I did not say anyone hit him on the head.  The brain weighs about 3-4 pounds under normal circumstance. It is encased in the cranium aka skull and floats in fluids. It comprises extremely delicate tissues and neurons. It has 3 layers of membrane which covers and protect the brain. Because the brain tissue is soft, it is therefore SUSCEPTIBLE TO PULLING, STRETCHING AND COMPRESSION in TBI. 

Thus, in the event of an accident such as air crash, the brain will JERK AROUND VIOLENTLY INSIDE THE SKULL resulting in injury.Governor Suntai may have suffered a CLOSED HEAD INJURY since there was no report of any open gash on his head nor a penetrating injury to the head. CLOSED HEAD INJURY occurs as a result of sudden stop following a high speed movement as in an air craft or chopper crash. In the instance when that chopper crashed, the BRAIN WILL MOVE BACK AND FORTH, LEFT AND RIGHT, COLLIDING WITH THE BONY CRANIUM, Of course, the result will be BRUISING OF THE BRAIN TISSUES, DAMAGE TO  THE NEURONS IN THE BRAIN, AND OR TORN BLOOD VESSELS. Injury may be SPECIFIC AND LOCALIZED or DIFFUSE AXONAL INJURY. 

I suspect the governor suffered DAI looking at the pictures posted on Sahara Reporters.My conclusion is that he suffered TBI based on the news report of :1. DOCUMENTED LOSS OF CONSCIOUSNESS AT THE CRASH SITE.2. AMNESIA POST TRAUMA on account of his inability to recognize visitors.3. SECONDARY INJURY AS A RESULT OF ANOXIA.4. CONSISTENT LOW BLOOD PRESSURE.5 INTRA CRANIAL PRESSURE SECONDARY TO BRAIN TISSUE SWELLING..

Since this man did not receive immediate medical help from any first res-ponders  and was also air lifted to an ill  prepared hospital in Yola I believe, that  he lost too much time and must have also suffered many tissue and neuron deaths in the brain. In that case, GLASGOW SCORE may not be reliable if it was taken at all. We are not sure if he was able to spontaneously open his eyes at the scene of the accident ( reported to be unresponsive several days post accident) reported to be in coma even at the National Hospital in Abuja which means only one thing, HE WAS UNABLE TO COORDINATE HIS FINE MOTOR AND VERBAL SKILLS.

It is not impossible for the verbal assessment to be impossible, because I expect that he must have been intubated for perfusion and in that case verbalizing anything will be next to impossible. Buy he should have been able to spontaneously been able to open his eyes, and follow simple commands. reports in the news papers indicated he was not able to do any of those. Then he had severe TBI. . His GLASGOW SCORE was definitely not 15, whichis the highest score a  human being can have.

To estimate the severity of his brain injury, we want to rely on his reported POST TRAUMATIC AMNESIA. He was reportedly  unable to recognize his visitors. Whao!. That is a red flag there no doubt. Any time there is a major blow to the head such as in an air crash, the following will happen almost all of the time:1. PATIENT WILL NOT REMEMBER THE INCIDENT.2. PATIENT WILL NOT REMEMBER THE INJURY AND RELATED EVENTS FOR SOMETIME ( read Suntai)3. SHORT TERM MEMORY LOSS IS A MAJOR ISSUE. For example, they tend to repeat what was already said over and over again.This is a period of POST TRAUMATIC AMNESIA. The danger in this period is that the longer the duration of the amnesia, the more severe the brain injury.Because of the delicate chemistry of the brain, neuro malfunction takes place. This affects the THINKING AND BEHAVIORAL PROCESS OF THE PATIENTS. 

Therefore, it is nothing strange that Mr. Suntai was seen starring into space in the picture posted on SR, and no one should be perplexed that he was reported to be staring at his visitors without showing any sign of recognition..It may take weeks, months years even for this man to come back to his pre accident state. It may take quite long for the brain to resolve its chemical imbalance as a result of the TBI  The good news however,  is that as the chemistry of the brain improves, so can the ability of the patient to function independently.  Because the brain is a dynamic organ with incredible ability to adapt and change with time, the brain is able to set up new connections between the nerves. Plasticity of the brain occurs all through a life cycle. 

Therefore, it is still possible for to have an occurrence a neural system stimulation. Such can and should be encouraged in an atmosphere, which the man is familiar with and with family. Long term rehabilitation will be better in a home environment and not in the cold walls of a hospital.It may take months and or even years for full recovery to take place.

Therefore, we should avoid this silliness of DOCTRINE OF NECESSITY ( whatever that means) and all the voodoo interpretation of the Constitution by the political elites. I am not advocating for the man to be removed from office since am not a Taraba person, but I do know he is not going to be able to function effectively as a governor anytime soon as a result of his TBI". 

(Stella is  a USA based Certified Advanced Trauma Specialist)