By Theophilus Ilevbare
Governor Patrick Yakowa, Kaduna State
Since the inception of the Fourth Republic
in 1999, Governors have been the subject of intense speculation and debate
whenever they disappear from official and other public functions. As the year
tails to an end, a serious call for concern is the plight of some state
governors that have been missing in action for the past few months.
Late President Umaru Musa Yar’Adua
spent most of his tenure governing Katsina State from various hospital beds in
Europe, unknown to people of Katsina, till he was foisted on Nigerians by
Olusegun Obasanjo in 2007 as President. He lost his battle with his health in
2010. Crisis was averted when Goodluck Jonathan was eventually sworn in as
acting and much later, substantive President. Two term governor of Edo State,
Lucky Igbinedion also had his own share of health challenges, which he tacitly
managed and kept away from public knowledge.
Kogi State Governor, Idris Wada
Kogi State Governor, Idris Wada, on
Friday December 28, was involved in an auto crash with his convoy when his
Lexus SUV tyre burst, causing it to somersault three times into an uncompleted
building by the road side. Multiple crashes ensued as other vehicles were in
his motorcade.
His driver, however, escaped unhurt but
the governor’s Aide-de-Camp, ASP Idris Mohammed, died instantly, while others
in his motorcade sustained varying degree of injury.
Wada was quickly evacuated by his
officials to Kogi Specialist Hospital in Lokoja from where he was transferred
to the National Hospital, Abuja, for further treatment. The governor was
returning from the annual Igala Education Summit which he declared opened at
the Kogi State University in Anyigba when his convoy was involved in the crash
on Lokoja-Ajaokuta Road.
Gov Sullivan Chime of Enugu State
The speculation surrounding the health
of the Enugu State governor has become intense in recent weeks as officials of
the state continue to vehemently refute rumours of his absence, refusing to
disclose his whereabouts or state of health. News of his ailment has been
misconstrued as death in some parts of the state. Former minister of state for
foreign affairs Dubem Onyia had to calm frayed nerves by stating the governor
is alive and kicking.
Sullivan’s last public appearance was
at the meeting of South-East Governors Forum on September 9, 2012 in Enugu. Since
then, he has been conspicuously missing in public functions. A Punch
investigation revealed that the governor made only 17 public appearances from a
possible 111 in 2012. To underscore his frail heath, he collapsed in Nsukka in
2011, and relapsed twice in Enugu, in 2008 and 2009.”
However, an aide of the governor, who
regrets the entire saga, recently told some journalists that Chime was in “a
bad shape before he left the country for London. We noticed it.”
The aide explained further “for some
time now, we noticed that the governor has not been his usual bubbling self.
You may not easily know this because he carries himself well and hardly talks,
but some of us knew that the man was down. From what we heard, he is no longer
in London; he was flown to India last week because his health condition wasn’t
getting better. As I speak to you right now, he is in a hospital in India.”
Concern, apprehension and anxiety can
best describe the mood in Enugu, particularly Udi where Governor Chime hails
from.
Governor of Cross River State, Liyel
Imoke
In November, former Federal Minister of
Power and Steel now Governor of Cross River State, Liyel Imoke had announced
that he was taking time off to attend to his medical condition without
disclosing the problem he had with his health.
He however wrote a letter to the state
House of Assembly that he had handed over to his deputy, Efiok Cobham, so as to
enable him proceed on an accumulated leave. Reports say the governor’s health
condition has to do with his kidney. Government house sources said Liyel is on
life support and undergoing regular dialyses.
Similar to other ailing governors, their
aides and protocol men are having a busy time deflating rumours of the
governor’s deteriorating health. The pace of development has been reduced to
snail’s pace as the Deputy Governor, Efiok Cobham, like his counterpart in
Enugu State, Sunday Onyebuchi, cannot approve more than N500, 000 for any
project regardless of how pressing it is.
Attention has now been channelled to gull the people of both states.
Governor Patrick Yakowa, Kaduna State
The Governor met his untimely death on
his way to Port Harcourt from Bayelsa after he attended the funeral of late Mr.
Tamunoobebara Douglas, the father of the Presidential Adviser on Research,
Documentation and Strategy, Mr. Oronto Douglas ,when the Nigerian Navy Augusta
109 helicopter conveying him, the erstwhile National Security Adviser, General
Owoye Azazi and four others, burst into flames and crashed at Okoroba village
in Ogbia Local Government Area of Bayelsa State.
They were said to have been badly burnt
and only identified by the shreds of their clothes. Yakowa has since been
buried and Kaduna State has moved on with the swearing in of his deputy,
Mukhtar Yero, as the new governor and former People’s Democratic Party chairman
in the state, Mr. Nuhu Bajoga, his deputy.
Dambaba Danfulani Suntai, Taraba State
Governor
Very little has been heard of Governor
Dambaba Suntai since the self-inflicted head injuries he sustained after his
Cessna 208 private jet piloted by him in company of five of his aides, crashed
on October 25 in Yola, capital of Adamawa State.
He initially received treatment at the
Abuja National Hospital before he was eventually flown to Germany for “proper
medical attention”.
A presidential delegation led by Senate
President, David Mark, embarked on a clandestine journey to see the governor on
his sick bed in Germany en route their official visit to the Vatican City to
witness the consecration of Archbishop John Onaiyekan as a Cardinal of the
Catholic Church, disclosed that apart from the fact that he is bedridden, he
could not recognize members of the delegation.
The silence on Governor Suntai’s health
status is considered by many as a scheme to delay the swearing in of the deputy
governor as the substantive governor despite proof beyond reasonable doubt that
Suntai might not be able to fully recover from the crash to govern Taraba
again.
In similar manner to the propaganda by
other state governors on ‘vacation’, the deceit and lies by media aides to the
governor continued unabated without recourse to his prolonged absence from the
country. This has stalled governance in Taraba as there was no official
handover to his deputy to take charge of day-to-day administration of the
state.
It would be safe to conclude that a lot
of them are aware of their fragile health before aspiring for political office
which they thereafter shield and employ state resources to keep going. These
Governors, like every other human being, can succumb to illness but it is the
secrecy in which it is shrouded, the leadership vacuum created and the
attendant dislocation in the workings of government when they periodically
break down that is a source of worry.
theophilus@ilevbare.com; blog:http://ilevbare.com;
Twitter: @tilevbare
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