Taraba State governor Danbaba Suntai has been discharged from the John
Hopkins Hospital in Maryland State, three months after he was brought to
the hospital’s Intensive Care Unit (ICU) as a result of the injuries he
sustained during the October 2012 plane crash that involved him and
some of his aides in Adamawa State.
Our correspondent, who got the information at the weekend that the
governor had be discharged from the hospital, went immediately to the
Suntai’s residence in New York, reports that Governor Suntai was truly
discharged.
According to one of his personal doctors, who gave his name as Dr.
Andrew Smith, Suntai will be advised to return back to Nigeria the
moment it is confirmed that he can undergo a long distance flight.
It was learnt that apart from his wife, Hajia Hauwa Suntai and their
children that were in the house, a top delegation of the state was also
there to felicitate with the governor who had spent well over eight
months both in German and United States hospitals.
Members of the delegation were a member representing Taraba state at the
House of Representatives, Hon Haruna Manu, member of the state House of
Assembly, Hon Mark Useni, former Deputy Speaker of the state House of
Assembly, Hon Abel Peter Diah and Hon Rebo Usman.
The governor, whom our correspondent was introduced to shortly after his
arrival at the residence, confirmed that he was medically okay and
asked the people around him if he looked like someone who suffered from memory loss.
When LEADERSHIP pressed him to speak further on his health issues,
one of the Suntai’s physicians, Dr. Andrew Smith, declined, saying that
it would not be wise for the governor to start talking about the
incident since he had just been discharged from hospital.
He said the governor should be allowed time to rest before being asked to narrate his ordeal.
Smith hinted that plans to make him return back to Nigeria were ongoing,
but promised that the governor would speak intensively with our
correspondent sometimes week before a date is finally fixed for his
return back to Nigeria.
Asked if the governor was fit to walk around as part of the things
required of him to function as a state governor, the doctor said “yes”
and asked if the delegation from Taraba State could stand up with the
governor for a photograph, an idea that was adopted to show his fitness.
The doctor also dismissed the rumour that Governor Suntai was having
memory loss, saying that his client was very conscious and could see,
stand, eat and recognise all the people around him by their names.
Asked why the governor was not allowed to go to Nigeria immediately he
was discharged, the doctor said that the idea would be unwise, stressing
that it was normal to let him stay in his house in New York for a
little while so as to allow the medical team access to monitor him to be
sure that he could undergo a long distance flight.
When asked by our correspondent about the other ailments that were
reportedly discovered in Governor Suntai when he was brought to John
Hopkins hospital in March, Smith confirmed the report but said that none
of the ailments was terminal as reported.
He said the governor did not have any terminal disease as reported by
some newspapers (LEADERSHIP not among), adding that all other ailments
discovered in the governor’s system were the first to be tackled by the
medical team when he was brought to the hospital.
The doctor pressed further that the other ailments which had been cured
over two months ago were normal ailments that any human being could
have. “They were not as serious as reported. They were not serious
ailments anyway and they have bee cured,” he noted.
Meanwhile, the wife of the governor, Hajia Hauwa Suntai, said that all
she could say was to thank God for bringing her husband back to life,
having undergone very serious pains both in hospitals in Nigeria,
Germany and the United States.
Saying that the Suntai’s family had nothing to hide about her husband’s
health, the Taraba first lady said that her door was opened to anybody
who wished to come and see the governor’s present health situation at anytime.
Hauwa also confirmed it to our correspondent that plans to have the
governor return back to Nigeria were in a top gear, just as she promised
that she and her husband would speak with the press at the right time.
It would be recalled that Governor Danbaba Fulani Suntai had on the 25th
October, 2012, involved in a plane crash which left him and some of his
aides critically injured in Taraba state.
After spending some days in a hospital in Nigeria, he was flown to
Germany for proper medical attentions where he spent almost five months
before being moved to John Hopkins University Hospital in the State of
Maryland towards the end of March, 2013.
During these periods, there were different reports saying that the
governor had been permanently incapacitated. Another report said that
the governor was having terminal diseases while some said that he was
suffering from memory loss.
Mewnwhile, the acting Governor, Alhaji Garba Umar, has said he cannot
tell when Gov. Suntai will return to the state, saying only the medical
experts at John Hopkins hospital could tell.
From leadership.ng
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