Eight Months On, Taraba State Functions Without A Deputy Governor

Taraba State Deputy Governor, Alhaji Aminu Alkali, has been away from office since late December 2024. He was first hospitalised at the National Hospital, Abuja, for some weeks before eventually being taken to a hospital in Egypt, where he was again on admission for several months before he was eventually discharged.

Since his discharge and return to the country, he is yet to resume duties as he is said to be recuperating based on medical advice from his doctors.

Though the nature of the deputy governor’s ailment was initially shrouded in secrecy, the State Commissioner for Health, Dr Bordiya Buma, who visited him in Egypt, however, disclosed that he had a stroke. According to him, “He had a stroke, which affected a part of his body, causing weakness on one side and impairing his ability to talk. But glory be to God, the treatment is ongoing, and we are happy with his progress”.

When the news of his illness broke out, the majority of the people in the state were thrown into a pensive mood while prayers were offered in Churches and Mosques for his speedy recovery. In some prayer centres, special prayers were being offered every time of worship for God’s divine healing of the man who has become renowned for his gentility and humility.

But while majority of the people continue to engage in supplications, some sections of the political class in the state began to raise dust over his prolonged absence while some actually began agitation for his removal from office even when he’s said to be recuperating faster than envisaged.

The dust being raised over the deputy governor’s absence thickened with the posting of Dr Emmanuel Lawson, the Deputy Chief of Staff to the Governor to the office of the deputy governor. Immediately the posting became public knowledge, rumours spread round the state that the posting was an attempt by the governor to run the deputy governor’s office by proxy.

But reacting to the insinuations, Special Adviser to the Governor on Political Affairs, Prof Josiah Sabo Kente, stated that the posting was purely administrative. He noted that the office of the Deputy Chief of Staff is always domiciled in the office of the deputy governor at the state level and the Vice President at the national level.

According to him “Those raising eyebrows and insinuating all sorts are either ignorant of the workings of government or they are being mischievous. The Office of the Deputy Chief of Staff is always domiciled in the Office of the Deputy Governor at the state level while it is domiciled in the Office of the Vice President at the national level. There’s nothing strange in the posting to warrant all the insinuations”.

Though the opposition All Progressives Congress in the state began the agitation for his removal from office, some elements in the ruling People’s Democratic Party who hope to benefit from his removal to gain political advantage joined the fray and began political manauvering for his ouster.

THISDAY investigations revealed that the there are some elements within the ruling party who felt the position of the deputy governor and Speaker of the House of Assembly shouldn’t have come from the same senatorial district as it presently is and therefore view the present circumstance as an opportunity to alter the status quo.

Alhaji Alkali and the Assembly Speaker, Rt. Hon.KizitoBonzena are both from the Northern senatorial district while the governor is from the Southern senatorial district while the highest political office holder from the Central Senatorial district is the Secretary to the Government of the State (SGS), Chief GebonKataps.

In a bid to alter the existing arrangement, there are reports that the Deputy Speaker of the State House of Assembly, Hon HammaAdama who represents Bali II constituency is being positioned to replace Alkali as deputy governor while the Assembly had also concluded plans to declare the office of the Deputy Speaker vacant to pave way for the emergence of the Deputy Speaker.

But in a swift reaction, the House of Assembly debunked the reports maintaining that the Assembly has no plan to declare the Deputy Governor incapacitated. Addressing a press conference at the Assembly complex, Chairman, House Committee on Information, Hon Nelson Len, dismissed such speculations insisting that there was no time the Assembly contemplated such.

“The Taraba State Have of Assembly did not contemplate at any point in time to declare the Deputy Governor, AlhajiAminu Alkali incapacitated. The Deputy Governor is recuperating and we’re very confident that he’ll resume back to office. We call on the general public to disregard the speculations that the Assembly is preparing to declare the deputy governor incapacitated”, he stated.

Meanwhile, those pushing for the replacement of Alhaji Alkali are apparently relying on the provisions of Section 189 of the 1999 Constitution as amended to advance their cause. According to the provisions of the section “The governor or deputy governor of a state shall cease to hold office if by a resolution passed by two-thirds majority of all members of the executive council of the state, it is declared that the governor or deputy governor is incapable of discharging the functions of his office; and…is verified, after such medical examination as may be necessary, by a medical panel established under subsection (4) of this section in its report to the speaker of the House of Assembly.

“Where the medical panel certifies in its report that in its opinion the governor or deputy governor is suffering from such infirmity of body or mind as renders him permanently incapable of discharging the functions of his office, a notice thereof signed by the Speaker of the House of Assembly shall be published in the Official Gazette of the Government of the State. The governor or deputy governor shall cease to hold office as from the date of publication of the notice of the medical report pursuant to subsection (2) of this section.”

According to the constitution, the medical panel shall comprise five medical practitioners in Nigeria, one of whom shall be the personal physician of the holder of the office concerned and four medical practitioners, to be appointed by the Speaker of the state assembly.

While the proponents of the removal of Alhaji Alkali are of the view that his present condition is critical enough to warrant the invocation of the provisions of Section 189 of the Constitution, the State Executive Council, which is saddled with the task of doing so, feels otherwise. A member of the Executive Council who preferred anonymity stated “the present condition of the deputy governor does not warrant the invocation of the Constitution. He has recovered substantially and very soon, he will be able to resume office”.

Similarly, the governor’s Special Adviser, Prof Josiah Kente, stressed that the deputy governor’s illness is not malaria or headache that one can recover from within days.

“The medical reports have shown very clearly that the deputy governor’s recovery is progressing very fast. The governor has taken cognisance of that. We’re all human beings and anybody can find him or herself in such condition. This is not the first time Taraba is experiencing this kind of scenario. In this case, the government is running smoothly and there’s no disruption with the absence of the deputy governor. Besides, remember that the governor assigns responsibility to the deputy and he has the prerogative to assign such responsibilities to any of the officials of government. The activities of government is going on seamlessly and there’s no cause for alarm.”

Meanwhile, a very influential member of the ruling PDP in the state told THISDAY that the agitation from members of the opposition in the state for the removal of the deputy governor can be likened to the biblical hand of Esau and voice of Jacob. According to him, “the whole noise is being orchestrated by elements within the PDP. That I can tell you for free and they’ve been the ones sponsoring all sorts of media propaganda to achieve their premeditated objective”.

Notwithstanding, one of the leaders of the opposition in the state and former Nigerian Ambassador to Trinidad and Tobago, Alhaji Hassan JikaArdo, maintained the issue of the health of the deputy governor is a conditional matter and therefore the health situation of the deputy governor must be made known to the people of the state.

Ardo, who spoke to reporters in Jalingo said: “Taraba State government should stop the hide and seek tactics on the issue because it is a constitutional matter, and not only the opposition political parties should ask questions about the whereabouts of the deputy governor or his health condition, but all the citizens of the state”.

However, a youth leader and former Chairman of National Youth Council of Nigeria in the state, Comrade Emmanuel George hailed the governor, DrAgbuKefas, for not succumbing to pressure to remove the deputy governor. Describing Kefas as a humanist per excellence, George noted that the governor has demonstrated true leadership and posterity would judge him well.

In his words “I’m happy with the governor’s stance on the matter. It is very commendable. It’s a thing of joy that he did not bow to pressures. He has shown that he is a humanist and a true man of God. Posterity will be very kind to him. There have been series of propaganda aimed at maligning the deputy governor including being too old to be deputy governor and being uneducated. This is a man who retired as Director of Agric and he’s just 65 years old”.

Recall that a similar scenario played out in the state during the administration of DanbabaSuntai after he was involved in a plane crash. Though his deputy, Alhaji Umar Garba, who assumed office barely three weeks before the plane crash was sworn-in as acting governor, thanks to the amendment of section 190 of the 1999 constitution after having to resort to doctrine of necessity to make then Vice President Goodluck Jonathan acting President due to non transmission of a formal letter to the Senate by President Yar’Adua before proceeding on medical leave, a very bitter power struggle later ensued between him and core loyalists of Suntai.

Though Garba triumphed in the political game eventually as the House of Assembly eventually mandated him to continue in office as acting governor even when DanbabaSuntai was abruptly brought back to the country, he was however removed from office by the Supreme Court which ruled that the impeachment of Sani AbubakarDanladi as deputy governor in October 2012 was null and void.

However, not a few are of the opinion that the scenario of the Suntai era is not in anyway comparable with the current situation in the state.