Why spend five hundred million naira on a thanksgiving party? Why allocate 4 billion naira to a white elephant project in Abuja. Why lobby, and then accept the Permanent Secretary position in the Bayelsa State civil service when you knew you were not qualified for such an appointment? Why engage in a public quarrel with your predecessor over a public land deal in Abuja? Why lie to the nation about your medical condition and secret treatments overseas. Why the bombastic statements, and the supercilious attitude? What’s the immoderations that have come to define you?” The questions are almost endless. But this has been the ways of Patience Faka -- the wife of President Goodluck Jonathan.
The African continent has had many terrible First Ladies; and many with a cathedral full of iniquities and samples of what is wrong with the continent. Mrs. Jonathan is not quite there, yet. But she is gaining grounds on many of her predecessors and contemporaries in the continent. And especially in the case of Nigeria – from Flora Azikiwe to Victoria Aguyi-Ironsi, Victoria Gowon, and Ajoke Mohammed down to Esther Oluremi Obasanjo, and Safinatu Buhari, Maryam Babangida, Margaret Shonekan, Fati Abubakar, Stella Obasanjo, and to her immediate predecessor, Turai Yar’Adua -- she has no equals in terms of excesses and negativities. And she has been at it for a while.
Mrs. Patience Jonathan has been the source of amusement and jest for many Nigerians. As the wife of the then deputy governor, who later became the substantive governor of Bayelsa State, she was the target of snide and pejorative remarks amongst the ordinary people. She was so unremarkable that many influential personalities within the state didn’t pay her a speck of attention. Instead, much of the attention was on Mrs. Margaret Alamieyeseigha who, according to those in the know, had the biggest and most fragile egos in the state.
But all those who didn’t pay Mrs. Jonathan the smidgeon of attention lived to regret it. Before they knew it, and before they saw the sun rose, she had become the numero uno of Bayelsa State -- with her own budgetary allocations. She was so powerful even her husband was stupefied. But he shouldn’t have been since the traces of unbridled ambition were already there long before they landed in the corridor of power. She was such a handful that her husband, on many occasions, came close to axing their marriage.
The thing about Mrs. Jonathan is that in spite of her paper credentials, she is not well-read. Intellectualism is not one of her fine points. But deficiency in these areas has not stopped her from getting her way. After all these years -- and not minding the insinuations and allegations and crudeness -- Patience Faka Jonathan is exactly where she wanted to be: Head of her household and near the top of the political and economic ladder. And because she lacks many enviable traits, she appears non-threatening. It was this deceptively plain and placid nature that caused many to let their guards down.
In the end, hate her or loathe her, one cannot but be amazed at her raw ambition and her ability to safely navigate shark infested waters. Insofar as her 2012 appointment as a Permanent Secretary in Bayelsa State is concerned, well, ambition is one thing; unbridled and intemperate ambition is another. Petty vices are one thing; but wholesale corruption is another. And while greed -- under certain settings may be good-- unmitigated, careless and moral-damaging geed is quite another. It is not just evil, it is destructive. But in all these, one wonders where her husband’s mind is. What was he thinking?
Many Nigerians believe that he has no control over her. After all, this is a wife and a woman whose many actions have been scandalous, and which have brought private ridicule to his person and his office. In spite of the brouhaha and denunciation and rumors that followed the “Permanent Secretary Scandal,” the President has remained quiet. His wife and others are tugging at his Achilles heels; yet, he goes about his business unperturbed. When you look at the larger picture, this is about greed and corruption and unbridled ambition. This is about a woman who has given great thought to life and living conditions after 2015. Knowing there is no chance in hell, or in heaven, of a second term for her failing husband and his failing presidency, she schemed to secure herself a future with a life-long retirement package.
The Nigerian government houses and feeds her and pays for her various domestic and foreign travels. She uses public funds to support her family at home and abroad. And for more than a decade, she’s been compensated, legally and illegally by Bayelsa State and the federal government. It is as if all the money she and her husband are alleged to have pilfered, and continues to snip, is not enough. We might as well compensate the First Daughter, the First Son, and the First mother-in-law. After all, they too serve the nation in one capacity or another. It may also be a good idea to consider the First Ladies in all the 36 states of the federation. And we might just as well compensate the mistresses and concubines of public official since they too “served” these officials, and by extension, the country.
Recently, and by her account, she came close to dying in her hospital bed in Germany. From one human being to another, I felt sorry for her. But beyond that, it is tough to sympathize with anyone who has brought so much pain and misery to others and to the country. Millions of Nigerians have no access to medical care in Nigeria. Millions have no access to quality education and to various other basic human needs. Her husband’s presidency, and other presidencies before theirs, didn’t find it humane and necessary to provide what other sane societies provide their people. When they fall sick, off to Dubai and London and German they go.
When Olusegun Obasanjo, Ibrahim Babangida, and Goodluck Jonathan take ill, they consult their medical doctors in America and elsewhere. These men ruled Nigeria for a combined twenty-two years at least. Yet – yet – none found it necessary to build first class hospitals and medical centers all across the country. When they die, I hope they get buried overseas and not in Nigeria. I have no doubt that Obasanjo and Jonathan’s coffin, along with Babangida’s burial materials would be made abroad. Perhaps all three should consider importing the soil, the dust, and the worms that will surround them after their death.
The African continent has had many terrible First Ladies; and many with a cathedral full of iniquities and samples of what is wrong with the continent. Mrs. Jonathan is not quite there, yet. But she is gaining grounds on many of her predecessors and contemporaries in the continent. And especially in the case of Nigeria – from Flora Azikiwe to Victoria Aguyi-Ironsi, Victoria Gowon, and Ajoke Mohammed down to Esther Oluremi Obasanjo, and Safinatu Buhari, Maryam Babangida, Margaret Shonekan, Fati Abubakar, Stella Obasanjo, and to her immediate predecessor, Turai Yar’Adua -- she has no equals in terms of excesses and negativities. And she has been at it for a while.
Mrs. Patience Jonathan has been the source of amusement and jest for many Nigerians. As the wife of the then deputy governor, who later became the substantive governor of Bayelsa State, she was the target of snide and pejorative remarks amongst the ordinary people. She was so unremarkable that many influential personalities within the state didn’t pay her a speck of attention. Instead, much of the attention was on Mrs. Margaret Alamieyeseigha who, according to those in the know, had the biggest and most fragile egos in the state.
But all those who didn’t pay Mrs. Jonathan the smidgeon of attention lived to regret it. Before they knew it, and before they saw the sun rose, she had become the numero uno of Bayelsa State -- with her own budgetary allocations. She was so powerful even her husband was stupefied. But he shouldn’t have been since the traces of unbridled ambition were already there long before they landed in the corridor of power. She was such a handful that her husband, on many occasions, came close to axing their marriage.
The thing about Mrs. Jonathan is that in spite of her paper credentials, she is not well-read. Intellectualism is not one of her fine points. But deficiency in these areas has not stopped her from getting her way. After all these years -- and not minding the insinuations and allegations and crudeness -- Patience Faka Jonathan is exactly where she wanted to be: Head of her household and near the top of the political and economic ladder. And because she lacks many enviable traits, she appears non-threatening. It was this deceptively plain and placid nature that caused many to let their guards down.
In the end, hate her or loathe her, one cannot but be amazed at her raw ambition and her ability to safely navigate shark infested waters. Insofar as her 2012 appointment as a Permanent Secretary in Bayelsa State is concerned, well, ambition is one thing; unbridled and intemperate ambition is another. Petty vices are one thing; but wholesale corruption is another. And while greed -- under certain settings may be good-- unmitigated, careless and moral-damaging geed is quite another. It is not just evil, it is destructive. But in all these, one wonders where her husband’s mind is. What was he thinking?
Many Nigerians believe that he has no control over her. After all, this is a wife and a woman whose many actions have been scandalous, and which have brought private ridicule to his person and his office. In spite of the brouhaha and denunciation and rumors that followed the “Permanent Secretary Scandal,” the President has remained quiet. His wife and others are tugging at his Achilles heels; yet, he goes about his business unperturbed. When you look at the larger picture, this is about greed and corruption and unbridled ambition. This is about a woman who has given great thought to life and living conditions after 2015. Knowing there is no chance in hell, or in heaven, of a second term for her failing husband and his failing presidency, she schemed to secure herself a future with a life-long retirement package.
The Nigerian government houses and feeds her and pays for her various domestic and foreign travels. She uses public funds to support her family at home and abroad. And for more than a decade, she’s been compensated, legally and illegally by Bayelsa State and the federal government. It is as if all the money she and her husband are alleged to have pilfered, and continues to snip, is not enough. We might as well compensate the First Daughter, the First Son, and the First mother-in-law. After all, they too serve the nation in one capacity or another. It may also be a good idea to consider the First Ladies in all the 36 states of the federation. And we might just as well compensate the mistresses and concubines of public official since they too “served” these officials, and by extension, the country.
Recently, and by her account, she came close to dying in her hospital bed in Germany. From one human being to another, I felt sorry for her. But beyond that, it is tough to sympathize with anyone who has brought so much pain and misery to others and to the country. Millions of Nigerians have no access to medical care in Nigeria. Millions have no access to quality education and to various other basic human needs. Her husband’s presidency, and other presidencies before theirs, didn’t find it humane and necessary to provide what other sane societies provide their people. When they fall sick, off to Dubai and London and German they go.
When Olusegun Obasanjo, Ibrahim Babangida, and Goodluck Jonathan take ill, they consult their medical doctors in America and elsewhere. These men ruled Nigeria for a combined twenty-two years at least. Yet – yet – none found it necessary to build first class hospitals and medical centers all across the country. When they die, I hope they get buried overseas and not in Nigeria. I have no doubt that Obasanjo and Jonathan’s coffin, along with Babangida’s burial materials would be made abroad. Perhaps all three should consider importing the soil, the dust, and the worms that will surround them after their death.
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