Prologue: Between Suntai and his sponsors: A puppet and his puppeteers

There is a decidedly fatal embrace in the air. In this instance, however, Danbaba Suntai would not be the first.

Before Suntai, there was Umaru Musa Yar’Adua. But before Umaru, there had been, in other climes, Mad King Ludwig of Bavaria, Woodrow Wilson, Adolf Hitler, Idi Amin, Deng Xiao-peng, Ferdinand Marcos, Franklin Delano Roosevelt, and Menachem Begin – all these individuals had had one form of infirmity or the other, some bordering on mental disability, while in office.

The lesson to draw from their situations, as explained in a book, WHEN ILLNESS STRIKES THE LEADER: THE DILEMMA OF THE CAPTIVE KING, by Dr. Jerrold M. Post and Robert S. Robins, is that these individuals as puppets and those shielding members of the public from the true position of their health as the puppeteers, are locked in an egregious and fatal embrace, “each dependent upon the other for survival – a captive king and his captive court” – while exploring what was described as the impact of physical and mental illness on political leadership.

Suntai is the puppet and the puppeteers are the likes of his wife, Jerry Gana and John Dara who told Nigerians last Sunday that Suntai was hale, fit and hearty to rule Taraba State.

Alas, and without prejudice to Suntai’s very personable personality before the air crash which forms the bane of his present situation, the Suntai Nigerians have been privileged to see cannot be subjected to the rigours and demands of governance of a state. Simple!

Therefore, the lessons from the book are simple and straight forward.

It must be acknowledged: “The illness or disability of a leader can change the course of history. When Lenin became too infirm to remove Stalin from a position of power, when the Shah of Iran’s terminal cancer was kept secret from fellow Iranians and foreign supporters until Ayatollah Khomeini’s Islamic revolution had succeeded, the political consequences were monumental.

“In this absorbing book, two experts in political psychology reveal how the infirmities of leaders have affected their own societies and the broader course of world events”.

In this society of clashing interests that Taraba State is, religion and ethnicity are being brought in.

Firstly, Suntai is a Christian.  The logic in some quarters there is that once he’s out, a Muslim would take over as governor.  Cheap talk!  Those Christians who are expressing this fear should be considered as pagans or Christians of little minds.  When in 1999 Ahmed Mohammed Makarfi chose a Christian as his deputy, the talk in Kaduna was that the governor turned senator may not last and a Christian would take over as Kaduna State governor.  Behold, Makarfi’s deputy died even before the tenure was completed.

Then came Governor Patrick Yakowa who succeeded Namadi Sambo when the Office of the Vice President was offered to the latter.  Some people went to town insisting that they would have to endure over eight years of a Christian governor in Kaduna.  By a twist of faith per cruelty, Yakowa lost his life in a plane crash.  There was Yar’Adua who also passed on before the expiration of his tenure paving the way for Goodluck Jonathan.  Whereas no one should celebrate at the demise of another, human beings are very fond of playing god by removing God from the equation.

Those who seek to enthrone this needless silliness on the polity in Taraba were part of those who complained when a cabal hijacked the Presidency to the embarrassing exclusion of a sitting Vice President Jonathan.  They are all members and leaders of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP.

Were Taraba State to be under the control of the All Progressive Congress, APC, what vibes would have been emanating from the PDP headquarters?

Were Suntai to be a Muslim, what would some masquerading Christian leaders be saying about that?

From the look of things, Taraba State itself might become incapacitated.  Alhaji Garba Umar, the Acting Governor, has been instructed by the Speaker of the House of Assembly, Haruna Tsokwa, to continue his job and disregard any shenanigans oozing forth from Suntai’s end.

The issues to look at are so simple and straight forward in this unfolding disgraceful show:

What does the Constitution say?

Has the law been breached?

How was it breached?

What constitutes incapacitation?

All indices of gauging the situation and responding to these posers suggest that Suntai and his handlers cannot score anything good or convince anyone that they are right.

Therefore, the fatal embrace, the delusion of which suggests to the puppet and the puppeteers that they are in good stead, is no more than a delusion of grandeur which would, in the final analysis, spell doom as was the case with the respected and respectable but the late Umaru Musa Yar’Adua whose handlers subjected Jonathan to ridicule.  Therefore, Mr. President, as leader of the PDP, should do that which is right and stop this show of shame.


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