By Soni Daniel, Regional Editor, North

YOBE—Taraba State Executive Council yesterday directed the State House of Assembly to raise a medical panel to ascertain the health status of its ailing governor, Danbaba Suntai.

The decision by the Executive Council to investigate the true state of health of the governor followed renewed reports that his political associates were planning to smuggle the recuperating governor into Jalingo to take over from his deputy, Garba Umar, who had been holding fort for him since 2012, when the governor was injured during a solo flight.

A top government official told Vanguard that the decision by the executive arm to probe the health of Suntai was to dispel rumours that the acting governor was hatching a plot to remove Suntai through the back door.

“As you can see there is no way the acting governor can remove Suntai by any subterranean means since the constitution does not confer on him such powers, the highly-placed official said.

“What is happening is that the council, which believes also in the rights and privileges of the governor wants to follow the process stipulated by law to know whether the governor is fit to return to his seat or not.

That notwithstanding, a group, known as United Tarabans for Suntai, raised the alarm yesterday that Umar had concluded plans to remove Suntai through the House of Assembly’s probe of his health status.

The group in a statement signed by its Coordinator, Ezekiel Gambo, said that the directive by Umar to the lawmakers to probe Suntai and declare him incapacitated was an indication that the acting governor wanted to oust him at all cost so as to take full charge of the state.

The group said it was sad that the directive was given to the assembly men just as Suntai was returning to the state to resume work, claiming that his health had improved significantly.

“Certain things are very clear: one, Umar has been paying the medical bills of Governor Suntai. At what point then did his benefactor become incapacitated?

“Secondly, is this not a confirmation of all that we have been saying all along that Umar has all this while been plotting Suntai’s ouster?

“This is an illegal act considering that both the EXCO and even the issue of the governor’s health, are all in court. It is therefore subjudice to discuss or expedite action on such matter.”

But the Taraba State Attorney General and Commissioner for Justice, Mr. Musa Tende, told journalists in Jalingo that it is the House of Assembly and not the acting governor that has the power to investigate the state of health of ailing governor Suntai.

Tende said it was untrue that Garba had concluded plans to impeach the governor and take the reins of power.

Meanwhile, politicians scheming for 2015 have been warned not to destabilise Taraba State by starting another power tussle over the health of GovernorSuntai.

A political pressure group,Taraba Democrats,made the appeal in a statement yesterday following reports that Governor Danbaba Suntai is to be flown back to the country.

The statement signed by Mr Aliyu Usman described the report as discomforting in view of what it called relative peace in the state and the threat the new move to start another power tussle poses to “ongoing push to bring real development to our state.”