TARABA CRISIS DEEPENS AS SUNTAI SACKS CABINET, NAMES NEW SSG, COS

The political crisis
rocking Taraba State deepened on Wednesday morning with the dissolution of the
state Executive Council by the Governor, Danbaba Suntai.

Apart from sacking the
cabinet, Suntai also removed the Secretary to the State Government and appointed
Mr. Timothy Gibon Kataps in his place. Similarly, Suntai fired his former Chief
of Staff and named Alhaji Aminu Jika as his new CoS.

 The governor, who made the
sweeping changes through his Special Adviser on Media and Publicity, Mr.
Sylvanus Giwa, asked all the affected commissioners and officials to hand over
to their respective Permanent Secretaries with immediate effect.

Although Suntai
explained that the move was aimed strengthening the administration, analysts
believe the recuperating governor wants to take greater control of his
government, which has been in the hands of those he does not trust, for about a
year.

The undercurrent has
exposed the divided loyalty between those in support of Suntai, who returned to
the country on Sunday and his Deputy, Garba Umar, who has been acting in his
absence in the last ten months.

While the Speaker of
the House of Assembly, Mr. Haruna Tsokwa, asked the governor to come and
address them at plenary as a condition for resuming, the Majority Leader, Mr.
Joseph Albasu Kunini, asked the governor to start work with immediate effect.

Source: Vanguard