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Brain-Damaged Governor Suntai Did Not Recognize Me, Says Acting Governor

February 7, 2013

Acting Governor Garba Umar of Taraba State has revealed that hospitalized Governor Danbaba Suntai did not recognize him when the two met over two days in Hanover, Germany. The deputy governor recently made a two-day visit to the seriously injured Mr. Suntai who has been at a hospital in Hanover, Germany since escaping with grave injuries from a crashed plane he was piloting when it went down near the airport in Yola, capital of Adamawa State last October.

Acting Governor Garba Umar of Taraba State has revealed that hospitalized Governor Danbaba Suntai did not recognize him when the two met over two days in Hanover, Germany. The deputy governor recently made a two-day visit to the seriously injured Mr. Suntai who has been at a hospital in Hanover, Germany since escaping with grave injuries from a crashed plane he was piloting when it went down near the airport in Yola, capital of Adamawa State last October.

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SaharaReporters has reported exclusively that Mr. Suntai is brain-damaged and unable to recognize visitors, including members of his family and a few other Nigerian politicians who have visited him in Germany.

A source close to the acting governor, who travelled to Germany two weeks ago, told SaharaReporters that Mr. Umar disclosed that the injured governor did not speak a word to him throughout his stay in Germany.

Another source revealed that the acting governor also told the Presidency in Abuja that, on one occasion when he tried meeting with the governor, Mr. Suntai drooled saliva uncontrollably as he sat in a special chair.

Our sources said that German medical consultants told the visiting acting governor that one of Mr. Suntai’s biggest medical issues is that fluids accumulate on one side of his brain, thereby impeding normal brain function. The German doctors indicated that the fluids have to be constantly drained or else Mr. Suntai would die.

Following our consistent reports that Mr. Suntai was brain-damaged from the crash, his wife and aides have maintained a well-oiled  propaganda in the state claiming that Mr. Suntai had almost fully recovered and was on the cusp of returning to Nigeria to resume office. The propagandists have enlisted several hands, including Governor Jonah Jang of Plateau State who recently claimed in a press release that Mr. Suntai would soon return. Mr. Jang had visited the ailing governor in Germany and released an apparently staged photo showing Mr. Suntai standing with him.

A top politician in Taraba told SaharaReporters that he sympathized with Mr. Suntai and his family, but added that one man should not hold the state hostage. “I think those around him should come out and tell us the whole truth about Danbaba,” said the source. “If he is well, let him come back and tell us what he plans to do to move the state forward. If he’s still incapacitated, he should resign so that the deputy can take over as full governor and handle the challenges of governance.”

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