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.
source: leadership
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