INTRIGUES continue to trail the health condition of the incapacitated governor of Taraba State, Danbaba Suntai, who has been in convalescence since the October small-plane crash that involved him and at least 5 other aides who were in an aircraft piloted by the governor as he attempted to land the plane in neighboring Adamawa State.
Latest reports say Governor Suntai, whose health condition his offices in Taraba repeatedly said had had greatly improved, has been transferred from the German hospital where he was originally flown to from Nigeria, to a hospital in the United States. A newspaper in Nigeria, Premium Times, claimed in a Saturday report that the hospital is John Hopkins Hospital, located in Baltimore, in the US state of Maryland.
The latest report about his transfer to an American hospital, if true, exposes the repeated claims by the governor’s office as false, following an unfortunate pattern of coyness and outright falsehood on the part of Nigerian public officials about their true health conditions in such situations.
A long line of similar situations precede the Taraba governor’s. Last February, Governor Sullivan Chime of Enugu State returned to Nigeria after months away from the country battling a health condition that was never revealed to the public. In his case, he was actually away from the country for weeks before questions arose over his whereabouts, prompting his office to issue repeated unconvincing assurances. The governor later said upon his return that he did not owe anyone an explanation on his health situation.
Perhaps the most prominent recent case was that of First Lady Patience Jonathan, whose disappearance aroused public curiosity to a fever pitch. Mrs. Jonathan aides denied outright that the first lady had any health condition, stating that she was only taking a well-deserved rest far away in Germany after a busy schedule.
President Jonathan’s office eventually stepped-in to say that Mrs. Jonathan was indeed convalescing in a hospital in Germany. The president’s office also released a grainy photo of the first lady and the president to assure the public that she was alive and well.
Mrs Jonathan of course returned to Nigeria to hold a thanksgiving ceremony in which she acknowledged that she was seriously ill to the point of death, expressing gratitude to God that she made it out alive after being under the surgeon’s scalpel several times.
Equally attention-grabbing was later President Umaru Yar’Adua’s long-running health issue, which almost brought the country to a standstill prior to his then-Vice President Jonathan succeeding in a delicate, if unnerving, transfer of power.
Elsewhere in Africa, too, similar cases abound. Ethiopian Prime Minister Meles Zenawi who died in December of 2012 had his health situation under wraps until it was no longer possible to keep it hidden. So was the case of the Ghanaian President John Atta Mills who died last year as well.
In all the cases, there is a general tendency to hide the true state of health of these public persons. It appears power and its trappings are the biggest motivations for hiding the details of the health conditions of ailing public officials.
On at least one occasion, a media aide of Governor Suntai struggled to convince Sahara Reporters’ Omoyele Sowore that the governor was healthy and near ready to return home to duty. A photo was later released of the governor posing with officials and fellow government officials as proof that he is healthy and doing great. Observers however are quick to point out the blank stare in his face, saying it appeared the governor was not aware of his surroundings.
It is yet unclear what promoted Mr. Suntai’s transfer to America. Efforts to reach his aides were not successful as at press time.
John Hopkins, the hospital where he is reported to be under admission in America, is reputed to be one of the best in the country. Founded in 1880, in part from the $7 million grant willed the institution from the estate of renowned banker, merchant philanthropist John Hopkins, it often has people traveling from across the world to benefit of the advanced medical care that it has on offer.