by Levi Obijiofor

The press and the people have consistently accused Mrs. Jonathan of lack of discretion, relating to inappropriate conduct, improper utterances and involvement in excesses that belittle the high office of president occupied by her husband. True or false, the charges levelled against Mrs. Jonathan constitute the basis of no fewer than three editorial comments published by two newspapers between July 2012 and July 2013.

At the opening of the 52nd annual general meeting of the Nigerian Bar Association at the International Conference Centre in Abuja on Monday, 27 August 2012, President Goodluck Jonathan claimed he was the most criticised president in the world. “I think I am the most criticised president in the whole world but I want to tell this audience that before I leave, I will be the most praised president,” he said. That statement was vigorously contested in the public sphere.

I would argue that Jonathan forgot to include his wife, Patience Jonathan, as one of the most criticised First Ladies. Between 1985 and 2013, Nigeria has been decorated with some colourful and controversial First Ladies, such as Maryam Babangida (known in her time as “Maryam the First”), her successor, Maryam Abacha (otherwise known as “Maryam the Second”), Turai Yar’Adua and now Patience Jonathan. These First Ladies were heavily criticised either for their extravagant fashion or their money-guzzling pet projects or their inappropriate conduct and utterances.

I cannot recall any previous Nigerian Head of State or president whose wife attracted so much condemnation in the public domain as Mrs Jonathan. Of course, Maryam Babangida was criticised roundly for her “Better Life for Rural Women” project.

For Mrs. Patience Jonathan, it is a different matter. Everything she says or touches is guaranteed to cause outrage or outcry in the public. She must be wondering what she could do or say that would appeal to the people. Despite frequent, strong and sustained defence of her actions by her team of assistants, Mrs. Jonathan is still perceived as an irritant by the public. Perhaps, there are valid reasons for public disapproval of her ways. Perhaps, the criticisms are unwarranted.

The press and the people have consistently accused Mrs. Jonathan of lack of discretion, relating to inappropriate conduct, improper utterances and involvement in excesses that belittle the high office of president occupied by her husband. True or false, the charges levelled against Mrs. Jonathan constitute the basis of no fewer than three editorial comments published by two newspapers between July 2012 and July 2013.

In an editorial, entitled: “Patience Jonathan’s excesses must be curbed”, the Punch (1 July 2013) wrote: “Each time the wife of the president, Patience Jonathan, hits the road with her long motorcade, including bulletproof and bombproof limousines, or is having a whale of a time at an event, drivers and commuters, who find themselves on her routes, always have to live with the bitter experience of the encounter. As police empty the roads of traffic, forcing drivers to wait, as her glamorous convoy drifts by, motorists are trapped in traffic for hours on end while social and economic life of the affected community is brought to a halt abruptly.”

The paper recalled that a similar situation occurred when Mrs. Jonathan visited Lagos in 2012 to express appreciation to various women organisations for casting their votes for her husband in the 2011 presidential election. The Punch observed that at the time, “Lagos residents were subjected to an unprecedented road blockade, which gave rise to an unnerving five-hour traffic that grounded all human and economic activities.”

Again, the Punch recalled in that editorial another indiscretion committed by Mrs. Jonathan, such as when she breached protocol by hopping off the presidential jet during Jonathan’s visit to the United States in September 2012. As soon as she alighted from the jet, Mrs. Jonathan shook hands with officials, standing by the airport tarmac while Jonathan, the president, was still getting off the aircraft. Mrs. Jonathan’s infringement of protocol occurred in a foreign land but she was most recently accused by Governor Rotimi Chibuike Amaechi of Rivers State, who told a group of church leaders how Mrs. Jonathan snubbed him and the code of behaviour for visitors during her visit to Port Harcourt.

Like the Punch, The Guardian’s editorial comment on Mrs. Jonathan’s behaviour was also unfavourable. In the editorial, entitled: “First Lady On An Illegal Podium”, The Guardian (Sunday, 23 June 2013) wrote disapprovingly of Mrs. Jonathan’s misuse of the coat of arms of Nigeria on unofficial platforms she uses for her public address: “Patience Jonathan, the First Lady and Permanent Secretary in the Bayelsa State Civil Service, a position to which she was promoted last year to national outrage, is in the news again for the wrong reasons.”

The Guardian continued: “Having decided to now conduct her public outings with an official podium of ‘First Lady’ complete with the country’s coat of arms and national colours, it seems there is no limit to the odium Nigeria would endure in her hands. For the wife of the president, occupying a ceremonial office that is unknown to Nigeria’s constitution and laws, to use the coat of arms in the manner she does amounts to a desecration of national symbols and disrespect to all Nigerians… Her action ridicules Nigeria in the comity of nations and President Jonathan needs to demonstrate that he understands the implication of the leadership position he occupies and back it up with corresponding action… This is a joke taken too far and a clear violation of the constitution of Nigeria.”

Beyond these tough editorial comments, there seems to be a consensus in the public that wives of presidents and governors have abused their role in society. Nobel Laureate, Wole Soyinka, last month criticised Mrs. Jonathan for exceeding the limits of her powers. At a public forum on Saturday, 20 July 2013, Soyinka said Mrs. Jonathan had interfered inappropriately in roles reserved for elected politicians, saying: “We ask unelected people to look around and see how the Mrs. Michelle Obamas of the world are conducting themselves.” He said if First Ladies were unwilling to be well-informed, “we must educate them”.

In an interview published in the Punch (Sunday, 7 July 2013), civil rights lawyer and activist, Femi Falana, alluded to the inconveniences that First Ladies have created for everyone in public and private spaces. He said: “From 1999 till now, no president has had the courage to check the excesses of his wife. These days, roads are blocked in our cities for hours because the wife of the president is retouching her hair in a salon. Very recently, Lagos was completely grounded for eight hours because the wife of the president… was in town to attend a naming ceremony. Governor Raji Fashola, SAN, was compelled to condemn the illegal disruption of activities in the state.”

Asked how he thought the wives of presidents and governors should actively engage in community development across the country, Falana suggested they could assist in significantly reducing illiteracy by educating girls and children. They could also assist, he said, in lowering the high number of children infected with the virus that causes HIV/AIDS and in decreasing the high rate of poverty among women and children. He suggested that First Ladies should be in the vanguard of the campaign against rape in our society. He noted, however, that some First Ladies had already established non-government organisations that are tackling these problems.

Mrs. Jonathan’s media assistant, Ayo Osinlu, disagrees forcefully with all those who criticise the president’s wife. He said critics of Mrs. Jonathan liked to give her a bad name in order to demonise her. In an interview he granted to the Punch (Sunday, 7 July 2013), Osinlu said the idea that Mrs Jonathan had engaged in excesses was flawed. His words: “One can’t help but wonder what they mean by excesses. What are excesses? Who holds the standards to measure excesses? There are no excesses, what you have are just perspectives… What you take as excesses might be regular and normal to another person. As far as I’m concerned, there are no excesses that can be ascribed to the First Lady… If you say we have done something in a way that is different from how you would do it, that is your opinion and you are entitled to it. But the fact that you are entitled to your opinion does not qualify you to describe what others do as excesses.”

Time will tell whether critics of Mrs. Jonathan are fair or unfair in their disapproval of her conduct.

 

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