Taraba Assembly holds valedictory session for Suntai 

The Taraba State House of Assembly yesterday held a valedictory session for the late former governor Danbaba Suntai.Government and business offices were shot down in Jalingo, the state capital, as people thronged the Assembly complex to witness the session in preparation for his burial this weekend. 

The House members who took their turns to exalt the virtues of the late Suntai, described him as a leader who carried everyone along irrespective of their religious, ethnic and political differences.Speaker of the House, Abel Peter Diah, said, Suntai was unifying leader, adding, “those who criticised him are the same people praising him now.”

Describing him as a pragmatic, decisive and courageous leader, he said Suntai was also a prudent manager of resources.On the bills the late Suntai signed into law before the plane crash that rendered him incapacitated, the late Suntai, he said, had a very cordial relationship with the state House of Assembly.

Diah pointed out that his demise should be used as a period to reflect on the fact that everything that has a beginning has an end, adding that the development of Taraba was a top priority to his administration and that he would forever be remembered for his impact in the state.

The member representing Takum II constituency, Mark Bako Useni, said Suntai’s life challenged leaders in the state, adding that “he made his mark, the challenge now is for all of us to make our marks too.”

He also lauded Governor Darius Dickson Ishaku for standing behind the late governor through out the period he was hospitalised in the United States of America.
Another member of the House, Habila Timothy Anderifu, described the late former governor as a “grassroots politician and a compassionate leader who was committed to the service of God.”

The late Suntai, it would be recalled, could not complete his eight years in office due to injuries he sustained in a plane crash on October 25, 2012 in Yola, Adamawa State