Danbaba Danfulani Suntai

Danbaba Danfulani Suntai (30 June 1961 – 28 June 2017) was a Nigerian pharmacist and politician who served as Governor of Taraba State on the PDP platform from 29 May 2007 to 2015 (two terms; the second term largely consumed by his medical incapacitation following the 25 October 2012 Cessna 208 plane crash in which he was the pilot). He was previously SDP chairman of Bali Local Government (1987) in the defunct Gongola State, and after the 1991 creation of Taraba held senior posts under Governor Jolly Nyame's first-Republic tenure including Director-General of the Ministry of Agriculture, Chairman of the Taraba State Investment and Property Corporation, Commissioner for Education, and Secretary to the State Government. He defected ANPP → PDP to secure the 2007 ticket after the PDP rejected Danladi Baido. His administration was credited with establishing Taraba State University, constructing Jalingo township roads and roads in all 16 LGA headquarters, and transforming Jalingo from a local-government-headquarters town into a model state capital. The 2012 plane crash (Cessna 208, piloted by Suntai himself; flight from Yola to Jalingo; survivors included his ADC and Chief Detail) left him with critical injuries and medically incapacitated; Deputy Governor Garba Umar (sworn in 18 days before the crash following the impeachment of the prior Deputy Sani Danladi Abubakar) became Acting Governor for most of the remainder of the term. Court battles over Suntai's medical fitness ran 2013–2014 between his Cabal of loyalists and Umar's faction. He died in Houston, Texas, on 28 June 2017 from complications of the 2012 crash. **No formal corruption allegation, EFCC/ICPC investigation, or court-charge is recorded in the corpus or in well-known public record** — the controversies attached to his tenure are constitutional (succession-crisis politics) and medical, not financial. Recommend **`contextual`** archive status with biographical / succession-crisis framing only; do not include