Former Secretary to the Taraba State Government Hon. Emmanuel Njiwah spoke with Senior Correspondent FANEN IHYONGO on his sack by Acting Governor Garba Umar, the political impasse in the state and other issues.
You were removed as the Secretary to the Taraba State Government. What went wrong?
My removal was purely an intrigue of politics. It was far from what I was accused of. There was no correlation between what they said I did and the actual facts on ground. The truth is that, after the plane crash involving Governor Danbaba Suntai on October 25 last year, I visited the injured governor in Germany in January. By that time, the Deputy Governor, Alhaji Garba Umar, had been sworn in as the acting governor, according to the dictates of the constitution. Now, after my visit, he also went to Germany and saw the governor.
When Umar returned, I noticed quite clearly that he was scheming to supplant our boss, the governor. He thought the governor was permanently incapacitated. But, I refused to give in to his demand that I should do a memo to the State Executive Council to kick start the process of booting out Governor Suntai. That is the constitutional provision: I would do an executive memo directing the EXCO to authorise the House of Assembly to set up a medical panel to ascertain the governor’s health. Thereafter, anything could happen, and in the case of Umar, he already had mischief up his sleeves. Pressures were mounting on me from Umar’s supporters, who wondered why I was not ready to assist their man to become the substantive governor. In fact, by April, the pressure heightened. I was promised the deputy governor’s slot, if I could make it happen for Umar. But, I didn’t dance to their tune. Somehow, I knew the governor was not permanently incapacitated, and Umar was just blindly ambitious. I have worked with the military where I learnt that loyalty to your principal must be 100 per cent, not even 99.9 per cent. So, I am 100 per cent loyal to Governor Suntai. Besides, the governor was not permanently incapacitated. What permanent incapacitation means is that the governor would not recover forever or till the end of his tenure. In this case, the governor was recovering very fast. Thus, I became an obstacle and the best thing for Umar to do was to give me a bad name and hang me.
But, your name was mentioned in the flood scandal…
That is the intrigue I told you about. I was not in the committees of purchase and distribution. I was in the main committee chaired by Alhaji Garba Umar himself. There were committees A and B which were given money to buy relief materials for the flood victims. Our main committee wasn’t given any money and the deputy governor is there to bear me witness. Go and ask him, if he gave me a kobo of that flood fund. But, I can point to some people he is having now in his fake cabinet, who lobbied for contracts from the flood fund for their wives and relatives. He is with them now in his government. I never lobbied for any contract from the committees.
So, why have you been quiet over the accusations?
I am not quiet. We are in court. Immediately we went to court, Umar sent two people to me not to go to court. But, we went ahead because we have to clear our names.
Do you think that Governor Suntai can still come back to the office as the governor?
Why not? Governor Suntai is getting better every day. He is already back and, if not for the machinations of Umar, he should fully resume now. We are aware of all the moves to remove Suntai, but we are resisting it, because he is well. This was why Garba used some members of the House of Assembly to say they don’t recognise the governor’s notification of return. This was why he removed the Suntai loyalists from the leadership of the House of Assembly and planted his men there. This is why we were called thieves and sacked. He orchestrated from the start. It is a master plan or road map that he is executing now. We knew his plans. Governor Suntai is fit to rule. An American President ruled from a wheel chair. So, what is the hullabaloo that the governor is not fit to rule? The governor can make full use of all his faculties. So, what is anyone saying?
Is there a religious or ethnic dimension to the political crisis?
Ethnic, a big no, but religion, a capital yes! It is a well known fact that Garba Umar, being a Muslim, wants to institute an Islamic state in Taraba state. There are inscriptions in various parts of Jalingo suggesting an Islamic agenda by Umar. Nigeria does not operate on the basis of a Christian or Muslim state. When Suntai held sway, he never dubbed Taraba a Christian state, because Taraba State consists of Muslims, Christians and animists. So, if Umar rules on the basis of being chosen by God to lead a plural state, fine. But there is great danger when you try to pin a religion on the state. And, if he is going about trying to gain the sympathy of other Muslims outside the state, he is going about it wrongly. Taraba is a secular state like other states in Nigeria. Governor Danbaba Suntai did not discriminate against the religions. He built the secretariats of the two great faiths –Christians and Muslims in Jalingo and invited the Sultan of Sokoto and the CAN President to co-commission the edifices. Suntai gave them equal treatment. I do not know where this has been done in Nigeria. Today, Umar is not being fair to his boss, who was totally fair to both faiths. He is going about calling himself the acting governor when the governor is around.
If religion is such a factor, how can you explain the fact that some Christian members of the House of Assembly are supporting Umar and even want him to replace Suntai, who is a Christian? You see some things are better not said. The fact is that massive funds are at work in the House of Assembly. Garba Umar is manipulating some of the members.
What is the implication of the crisis for the the 2015 poll?
Let me start with some basic facts. Taraba is a heterogeneous state with many ethnic groups. A state with 2.5 million people, we have a unique experience of religious harmony. If you go to any homestead in Taraba, you will find members of all the faiths co-habiting. But, Graba Umar does not understand this.
He is a stranger in the state. He was born in Makurdi and grew up largely outside Taraba. He then worked all of his life at the UTC where he was living outside the state. He finally settled in Jos. After the crisis there he relocated to Gombe State. So, he just came to our state brandishing religion. He doesn’t know that, in Taraba, we don’t mix politics with religion. It is a taboo. Suntai is a devote Christian but, his wife is a Muslim.
