by Isi Esene

Background investigations by SaharaReporters have revealed that the First Lady, Mrs. Patience Jonathan, has been paid a salary since 1999 by the Bayelsa State Government Civil Service.

Sources however say, Patience Jonathan who was appointed a permanent secretary yesterday alongside 17 others by the civil service, has never showed-up for work making her an high-profile ‘ghost-worker’.

One of our sources said of Mrs. Jonathan: “She is a staff of civil service, she was being paid until a biometrics was done by [former governor] Sylva. She refused to show up for verification in 2009/2010 and her salary was briefly stopped.”

The source stated that Mrs. Jonathan transferred her service from Rivers State as a director in the Ministry of Education and was considered on “on leave of absence” even in Rivers State while her husband worked at the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC).

During the tenure of President Umaru Yar’adua, Pres. Goodluck Jonathan, as Vice President, refused to declare his wife’s assets, giving the excuse that his wife was just a civil servant in Bayelsa.

Workers in the state, who were obviously surprised by the appointment, noted that her promotion contravenes civil service rules.

They told SaharaReporters that, according to the civil service rules, such truant worker deserves to be disciplined and not promoted, they went on to suggested she pays back all the salary she has received all through her absence from work.

Hmm.