Suntai in stable condition, says acting gov

AT last, the tension about the true position of the health of the ailing Governor of Taraba State, Danbaba D. Suntai, has finally been doused as he was said to be in a stable condition.

Fielding questions from journalists Wednesday in Jalingo, the Acting Governor, Alhaji Garba Umar, who just arrived from Hannover, Germany, where the governor is receiving medication following the severe injuries he sustained in the ill-fated plane crash of October 24, 2012, told journalists that “my boss is in a stable condition”.

Contrary to the falsehood by some top government functionaries that the governor has been discharged from the hospital, the acting governor said Governor Suntai is still in the hospital, adding that “he was in a stable condition. That was the state I met him in the hospital”.

On the need to engage the governor in a teleconference that would be facilitated by the Commissioner for Information, Culture and Tourism, Emmanuel Bello, whom he noted is due to be with the governor in Hanover “next week”, Umar said: “By next week, I am sending my Commissioner for Information, Culture and Tourism to Germany and I promise you we are going to facilitate the teleconference with the governor as soon as Bello gets there”.

When contacted, Bello confirmed that he was at the verge of leaving for Germany and promised to carry out the directives of the acting governor by facilitating a teleconference with Suntai, stating that it is “depending on the type of technology that is available”.

If done, he noted, it would go a long way to “put the doubting Thomas” and those that have been wishing the governor “negative things to shame”.

“The acting governor”, Bello said, “I know, has been working round the clock to see to the immediate return of his boss. So we all have confidence in and respect for him because of his incessant prayers for his boss’ quick recovery”.

The inability of the administration under Umar to award contracts since the past three months that the governor was away, Umar observed, was hinged on his desire to ensure the completion of the ones already awarded by his boss.

According to him, rather than awarding contracts, “is it not better for me to work hard to see that the ones already awarded by my boss are completed and if possible, commissioned”?

He urged the people of the state to give him the much-needed help so as to succeed in taking the state to the great height and continue to pray for the ailing governor, whom he believed, would soon be discharged from the hospital.