To say that the decimal utterances Nigeria’s First Lady, Patience Jonathan, can ever be controlled could be an understatement. One cannot imagine that after reading the article titled ‘Can someone call Dame Patience to order?’ written by a renowned journalist, Kanayo Esinulo, which was published at the back page of Daily Sun newspapers of February 13, 2015, she still would not employ decorum. This is so after considering her utterances at a rally in Benin City, capital of Edo State, the following day, Saturday February 14, which witnessed minimal improvement. Does it mean that the First Lady is not amenable?
President Goodluck Jonathan should have taken time out to plead with his wife not to make him lose the March 28 elections, because her utterances could be responsible, if added up. It is also a pity that top Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) chieftains, close friends and associates of Jonathan seem afraid of requesting him to caution the First Lady on her meddlesomeness in the party affairs, coupled with her flippancy, most of which showcases the party in bad light.
I am afraid that we are drawing nearer to a verdict of losing the March 28 election. I am also dismayed that more intelligent and educated personalities like Onyeka Onwenu and Kema Chikwe, among others, who are normally in the First Lady’s entourage, could not advise her, or are they cheer-leaders and sycophants? They should consider; peradventure another occupant takes over Aso Rock by May 29, their fates will be sealed and locked out of the place. I hope they are still intelligent enough to understand this.
At her Benin outing, Mrs. Jonathan had, as one of her messages, that the presidency had been occupied for eight years by other geopolitical zones and asked why the South South should be denied the opportunity. To her, this is a selling issue; to many, it is very parochial. Barring short memories, she should have known that apart from the statement being a non-issue, the North should have been allowed to complete Umaru Yar’Adua’s eight years tenure instead of Jonathan contesting in the 2011 elections. Moreover, people are quick to remind her that her husband was quoted in the media, at the twilight of 2011 elections, promising not to stay beyond 2015. Probably, for the sake of the spoils of the office, he had a rethink.
Also, in her other statements at the rally, she goofed when, rather than appreciate Edo State governor, Adams Oshiomhole, for cancelling booking earlier made by Mrs. Buhari’s group for use of the Samuel Ogbemudia Station for the same date, and favoured her, she described the (Aisha Buhari’s) postponed visit as a plot by the opposition to foment trouble. Any right-thinking person would be at a loss understanding what her statement in this regard meant. What a power-drunk, incoherent and insatiable First Lady, people continue to say!
The other time, the First Lady defended her unfortunate statement that anyone who shouts ‘change’ should be stoned. She said after all, her husband was stoned in Katsina, Bauchi and Taraba; whereas it was established, respectively, in Katsina, Bauchi and Taraba episode that the acts were carried out by aggrieved PDP members. She could not be assuaged by the statement of the PDP-controlled Bauchi governor, Isa Yuguda, about the fact that the stoning was allegedly arranged by the FCT Minister, Bala Mohammed, and also the revelation by the PDP spokesperson in Taraba, confirming that the stoning there was carried out by aggrieved youths who claimed they were not brought in to be part of the arrangement for the president’s visit. The youths did not stop at that; they also torched the state secretariat of the PDP.
As Esinulo rightly expressed aloud: “Can someone call Dame Patience to order”? She seems unrepentant.
• Madueke wrote in from Awka Road, Wuse II, Abuja.
