Confusion over Governor Suntai’s state of health

The governor along with his security aides sustained serious injuries in a plane crash last October. The governor was the pilot of the jet when it crashed at the outskirt of Yola, Adamawa State capital.   He and his aides were flown to Germany for treatment. State government officials yesterday announced the discharge of the […]

The governor along with his security aides sustained serious injuries in a plane crash last October. The governor was the pilot of the jet when it crashed at the outskirt of Yola, Adamawa State capital.

 

He and his aides were flown to Germany for treatment. State government officials yesterday announced the discharge of the aides from hospital and said the governor too was recovering fast.

However, online news portals yesterday claimed that the governor has suffered brain damage and could not recognise even his family members.

They said that a delegation from Nigeria that visited him in Germany found his condition to be “very bad”.

They said the delegation said that his mental faculty had deteriorated since the accident and that his memory was virtually impaired.

As the news spread in the state, there were reports of growing concern among many people.

However, the governor’s aides dismissed the reports of his deteriorating health as false. They insisted that he is not only recovering fast but that they have even spoken with him on telephone.

The state commissioner of information Emmanuel Bello told Sunday Trust yesterday that the claim that the governor’s brain was damaged “is totally wrong”.

He said he and the state chairman of People’s Democratic Party (PDP) Victor Bala and several officials in the state had spoken with the governor.

“He can recognise family members and friends. He is very sound in body and mind,” Mr Bello said.

“The governor will be back in Nigeria very soon. He doesn’t have any spinal cord injury; he has no brain injury,” he insisted.

Earlier, the chief press secretary to the governor, Alhaji Hassan Mijinyawa had told Sunday Trust that two of Suntai’s security aides who got injured in the air crash have been discharged from the German hospital and are now back in Nigeria.

He said “the Chief Detail to the governor, Joel Dan and the Chief Security Officer, Timothy Dangana, have been discharged from hospital where they had been receiving treatment for various degrees of injuries sustained during the plane crash for the past one month”

He said the good news is that they have fully recovered and that there was no case of disability.

“The governor has started talking to people on phone so there is great improvement in his health condition. Initially he wasn’t able to talk but now that he has begun to talk we are hoping that soonest, he will return,” he added.