Hail Patience Jonathan, First Lady of Africa.

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 Shola Oshunkeye.
Despite the loud protestations by Nigerians at what they considered a monumental insult that the appointment and/or promotion of Dame Dr. Mrs. Patience Jonathan, First Lady of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, connotes, Governor Seriake Dickson, the ex-policeman-turned-governor of Bayelsa State went ahead, upper Friday, to swear her in. Patience Jonathan is now a permanent secretary in Bayelsa State. When I wrote on this issue, three weeks ago, I never saw it as an insult. Rather, I felt if it was a way of making the First Lady contribute to the development of her husband’s home state, then, all well and good. However, the scales have since fallen off my eyes. My vision is now clearer. The veil fell after I received and read the response of one of the fans of this page, Mr. Darlington Agomuo, a public affairs analyst, who raised some fundamental questions on the appointment and/or promotion. I agree substantially with his submissions hence my decision to reproduce the response for your reading pleasure. But before you continue, let me ask a question: isn’t it time we pushed for the appointment and/or promotion of Dame Dr. Patience Jonathan as the First Lady of Africa? I have a solid ground for making this proposal. Her ‘non-profit’ organization, Women For Change Initiative, has morphed into a peace-advocacy ‘NGO’, crisscrossing ‘troubled spots’ like Lagos, Rivers, Cross Rivers, Akwa Ibom, Bayelsa, Edo, Oyo States respectively to preach peace. Even though the transformed ‘NGO’ has never taken its gospel of peace to Bauchi, Damaturu, Yobe, Maiduguri, Kano, Kaduna, Kebbi, Niger and Plateau States respectively, where Boko Haram has been unleashing hell, killing hundreds of people in cold blood, we can push for its replication on the continental stage; through the African First Ladies Peace Mission, AFLPM. What other qualification do we need to see the proposal through than the successful hosting of the 7th Summit of African First Ladies Peace Mission, AFLPM, by our amiable First Lady? If it sails through, and Dame Dr. Mrs. Jonathan becomes the chairperson and/or life president of AFLM, it would help restore peace in the glittering cities of South Africa, Kenya, Botswana, Mauritius, Gambia, Ghana, Uganda and Tanzania. Mali, Cote D’Ivoire, Somalia, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Sudan and South Sudan, among others, can sort themselves out. Get the drift? If AFLM can successfully preach and, indeed, bring peace to the aforementioned countries under the watch of our First Lady, then, why should any reasonable-thinking fellow object to swearing her in as the First Lady of Africa? By Darlington Agomuo President Jonathan should not allow his wife to take the arranged appointment as permanent secretary because of its implication on his political career. He needs his wife to be by his side at all times in ASO ROCK with all the tension going on. To allow this appointment will send wrong signal on why former Gov. Silva was ‘removed’ from office. And Dickson will be seen as ‘Jonathan’s Boy’. The people of Bayelsa will read between the lines and wait for the next election. I don’t know why PDP leaders don’t learn any political lessons. They still believe Nigerians are fools to be manipulated and they are paying dearly for it. Is this how they will rule Nigeria for 60 years? If Mrs. Jonathan takes that appointment, which she does not need or merit, it means occupying an office meant for somebody who needs it. How can unemployment be reduced if people are keeping several highly paid jobs because of their connection? If Mrs. Jonathan takes that job, it means shuttling between Abuja and Bayelsa on daily basis on taxpayers’ money, because I don’t see her abandoning her matrimonial home and her husband for a whole five working days of the week. With the spate of kidnappings, it equally means a complete military and police outfit will be on hand to protect her in a purely civil service environment. Innocent civil servants might be suspected of trying to kidnap the First Lady and these may affect their performance and psyche? Besides she will need extra staff and perks of office as the First Lady with homes in Abuja and Bayelsa. Her presence will intimidate both senior and junior staffs from doing their jobs, because nobody would want to offend her. People would curry her favour and she would want to have her way. Will she also be available for the compulsory local and international training and retraining of staffs in her cadre? And if she will not be physically present to do the job to avoid being ordered around, of what use is her appointment? There is no way Mrs. Jonathan will not clash with civil service rules and procedure if she takes that appointment and then, there will be need for President Jonathan and Gov. Dickson to intervene and defend her or change the rules entirely for her sake. I don’t think Mrs. Jonathan passed through the ranks and system of civil service, neither is she in tune with the day-to-day operations of the service. It means something will give in the system’s operational chain of command-all for the First Lady. This influence “over kill” in Bayelsa is cheap. There are state functions that require the attention and presence of the First Lady, including her pet project Women for Change Initiative. What happens to all these in the event of Madam First Lady becoming “First Permanent Secretary? And if she is absent from duty for half of the month due to “urgent national assignment,” what would that mean to the moral of other staffs? What happens to the duties she needs to perform when she is absent for several weeks? Will she be subjected to the same disciplinary measures given to other errant staffs? All these need to be spelt out, to avoid setting a very dangerous precedent which will bring problem at last when the Jonathans would have left office. This development should attract the attention of our lawmakers to define the appropriate roles of First Ladies. For a First Lady to grab job opportunity in her state as permanent secretary is usurpation and abuse of power. She will not only be distracted from being the lady, she will not give her best on the job. The job will only make sense if she has left office as First Lady and the state or any organization decides to hire her services. Perhaps, the most curious in all these debates is her academic qualification. Is there any intellectual touch or innovation she is bringing to the system that the ‘eggheads’ in the service don’t know? Ever since the Jonathans came into public office and political limelight, it is Dr. Goodluck Jonathan, a zoology PhD holder, that we know and has confirmed. The sudden disclosure that Mrs. Jonathan is a biology and psychology graduate of Rivers State University is a new one on me and needs to be investigated. If the First Lady wants to become an academic or bureaucrat, there is nothing wrong in that but it must be through the due process, because at the end of the day, history will be written and the truth will come out. To be a First Lady does not require any certificate. It is more dignifying for a First Lady to visit workers, than to be planted as a spy among the workers. Former governors who used this ‘strategy’ to dominate their states, lost out at the end. The president must stop this needless embarrassment.  •Darlington Agomuo (08022905726) is a public affairs analyst

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