by Gidado Ibrahim

The crisis rocking the ruling party and the governors’ forum is a manifestation of those within the power circle who have foolishly picked up arms against the almighty God, thinking they are at war with President Jonathan.

Literally, the character of Nigeria’s first lady, Dame Patience Jonathan, has been cloned to serve certain parochial interest in the country’s murky political terrain. At one time, she was used as a bait to get at the minister of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Senator Bala Muhammad. The issue at stake then was the land tussle said to be between her and her predecessor, Turai Yar’Adua. The matter was made to appear in such a way that the wife of Nigeria’s elected President Goodluck Jonathan was using the minister as lackey in the bid to snatch what rightfully belong to the widow of late President Umar Musa Yar’Adua.

This kind of allegation, among others is also fashioned to make it seem as if, of all the wives of all the former Nigerian rulers, both civilian and military, who have ruled this country since independence, she is the most controversial in the performance of the duties of a first lady. In another instance, Mrs. Jonathan was being taunted as an extravagant first lady, following the proposed N4 billion African First Ladies’ peace mission building project which the FCT ministry had already seen the need to make provision for in its 2013 budget.

To demonstrate the level to which they had already been sunk in the pit of mediocrity, some Nigerians opposed to the proposal had argued that it would amount to a big waste of the country. Claiming to be women activists and civil society groups, this set of Nigerians protested against the N4 billion appropriated for the building of the African first ladies peace mission complex, describing it as unconstitutional and illegal.

A protest march was also organised by a group known as Women Arise for Change Initiative, all in a frantic attempt to discredit it.  While the N4 billion provision for the building was mischievously described as Mrs. Jonathan’s excesses manifesting in the 2013 FCTA budget proposals presented to the National Assembly for appropriation, these armchair critics tried to mislead Nigerians to believe that the organisation is an NGO belonging to the First Lady.

Of recent, the first lady had been in for it again, no thanks to mischievous opposition, both within and outside the ruling People’s Democratic Party (PDP) who are bent on hauling down President Jonathan, using the crisis in the party and that in the Nigeria Governors’ Forum (NGF) as a bait. It will be the peak of foolhardiness for us as Nigerians to believe an apparent cock and bull tale that the first lady, Dame Patience, has such overbearing influence on her husband, the president and the entire PDP machinery, as well as the governors’ forum to the extent of manipulating the country’s political field to her own advantage.

The crisis rocking the ruling party and the governors’ forum is a manifestation of those within the power circle who have foolishly picked up arms against the almighty God, thinking they are at war with President Jonathan. The deep rooted intention by these politicians once described by Bauchi State Governor, Mallam Isa Yuguda, as playing evil politics of betrayal, is to destroy the political fortunes of the president. But can a man fight with God? The circumstances that brought Jonathan to power should have been enough to send strong signals that there is a divine anointing backing him. Or is it in our own time that the biblical injunction, “touch not my anointed” was design to become less effective? Only time will tell.

There is also the allegation that the first lady deals directly with officers of government she so desires, including those in the security agencies. Citing the removal of the commissioner of police in Rivers State as an example, these paid political analysts allege that Dame Patience “gives orders to brigade commanders, SSS directors, police commissioners, ministers and other officers of government.

According to a report, Mbu who took over as the new CP in Rivers was the First Lady’s idea. But how can any sane minded person accept this kind of weighty allegation? Security agencies in the country ought to go after these political jobbers alleging this kind of blasphemy against them, using the cheap blackmail in the media. What the enemies of the country’s progress are trying brazenly to insinuate and depict here is that Nigeria’s security agents are worthy lackeys of the wife of the president.

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Read this article in the Leadership Newspapers

 

Op-ed pieces and contributions are the opinions of the writers only and do not represent the opinions of Y!/YNaija.