NEWS of an accident involving Danbaba Suntai, Governor of Taraba State, has just reached us at sharpedgenews.com. The governor was said to be in a small aircraft at the Yola airport, in neighboring Adamawa State, when the crashed occurred.
Although the immediate cause of the crash remains unknown, unconfirmed reports say the governor piloted the aircraft himself prior to the crash, in which two people died.
One of the youngest governors in Nigeria, he was elected governor of Taraba in April of 2007 at 47. On April 26, 2011, he was reelected for a second term of office.
Born June 30, 1961 in the town of Suntai, in Bali Local Government of Taraba State, Governor Suntai attended the Federal Government College in Kano between 1975 and 1980, after which he attended and graduated from the Ahmadu Bello University in Kano in 1984, earning a degree in pharmacy.
Suntai later interned at Yola Specialist Hospital in Yola, before serving out his National Youth Service Corp year at the State Hospital in Ijaiye, Abeokuta, Ogun State.
Later, Mr. Suntai worked at the General Hospital in Ganye, in the now defunct Gongola State, until he contested and won the post of the chairman of the Bali Local Government in Taraba, serving there until 1993.
He also served as the Taraba State director-general of the ministry of agriculture and natural resources from 1994 to 1996, before returning to politics and heading the state chapter of the All Peoples Party, APP.
In 2000, Suntai was appointed as the chairman of Taraba State Investment and Properties Limited. He was also appointed commissioner of the education ministry, a position he held for three years until he was moved to the ministry of health where he served between 2003 and 2005, when he was appointed secretary to the government of Taraba State, his last major public office before emerging as governor in 2007.
More details on the Thursday’s aircraft crash is being awaited.