Former Taraba State governor Danbaba Suntai finally gives up the ghost after years of treatment

FORMER Taraba State governor Danbaba Suntai has passed away in the US at the age of 56 five years after surviving a horrific air crash which left him paralysed and in a vegetative state.

In October 2012, Governor Suntai, a trained pilot, crash-landed his plane at Yola airport on the way back from a trip to Abuja. Although he survived the crash, the governor was in a coma, a vegetative state and a wheelchair for years, unable to speak and even recognise close family members.

Yesterday, Governor Suntai, 56, finally gave up the ghost in Houston, Texas after being ferried around numerous hospitals across the world. Emmanuel Bello, the senior special assistant to incumbent Taraba State governor Darius Ishaku, confirmed the incident, adding that the former governor's body would be flown home to be buried.

Meanwhile, the speaker of the House of Representatives Hon Yakubu Dogara and the deputy senate president Senator Ike Ekweremadu, have said they are saddened by Governor Suntai’s death. They both expressed their sympathy with his family, adding that Governor Suntai gave a good account of himself as a politician, public administrator and a party man.