Yesterday, the South-East caucus All Progressives Congress issued a press statement shaming former Nigerian First Lady, Patience Jonathan for doubting the Chibok girls kidnap in 2014.
Which made us stop and think. Where is the Adama
She has been dearly missed. Not just by us. Here’s proof
I miss Dame Patience Jonathan https://t.co/wAFy96MDfJ
— Anazodo Godwin Eche (@Anazodoeche) May 7, 2016
And because she kept it a 100 percent real.
Patience Jonathan was the realest.
She always kept it ? with us..— – André ◢◤ (@DREW_certified) May 7, 2016
I miss dame patience Jonathan only because she provided us with much needed comic relief. She was more if a comedian than a first lady
— Gbenga Aborowa (@Gbenga_Aborowa) May 20, 2016
While many believed that former President Goodluck Jonathan was the head of the country, others argued that Jonathan and his wife shared the same body but different heads -like Siamese twins- so that where the ex-president was failing, Patience made up for it.
For further explanation, please ask this man.
A divisive figure
The fact that Mrs. Jonathan was a controversial and divisive person is an incontestable fact. Despite her inadequacies, Patience took pleasure in standing where the light shone the brightest, enjoying the spotlight in a way that would have put the best of actors to shame.
If anything, the former First Lady had a persona that was widely perceived to be unpretentious and a tongue without a well secured filter -she says it as it is. Many even called her their ‘Jesus on earth,’ others thought of her as a termagant, but she thought and called herself, Mama Peace.
However, following 2015 election loss, Mama Peace has gone silent and has disappeared completely from the spotlight that she so much savored. Little is known about her, or her husband, as they avoid cameras and guard their image and comments jealously.
The last time she was seen in public was at the burial ceremony of the mother of Ebonyi state governor, David Umahi. Former president, Olusegun Obasanjo, was also present at the event.
So we ask again, where is Mama Peace?
Her comments gave social media fodder to feed on for days.
She even introduced her own language and gave us some words to add to our already existing patois.
We miss the First Lady who fought hard.
Many accuse her of being one of the many reasons why her husband was booted out of office by Nigerians. In some ways, it is might be the truth. Her unguarded statements and intrusive behaviour created more political foes for her husband, and the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP). Nigerians also viewed her as a loose cannon and stronger than Jonathan.
The facts are not very clear, but the genesis of the Jonathan-Amaechi saga is believed to have began when Mama Peace visited Rivers state, her home state, and made some comments that the then Governor of the state, Rotimi Amaechi, found unsettling.
The fact that the office of the First Lady isn’t recognized by the Nigerian constitution, didn’t stop Mama Peace from interfering in affairs of state and poking her nose in where it shouldn’t be.
An edgy figure, Mrs Jonathan was seen by many as a woman whose careless, somewhat uneducated, utterances were unbecoming of the office of the First Lady and that Nigeria could do without an overbearing figure like hers.
Compare to Aisha Buhari
Placed side by side with Mama Peace, the wife of the current President, Aisha Buhari (who have rejected the term First lady and has remained low-key since her husband assumed the presidency) appears dour, dangerously inconsequential and somewhat distant to citizens, if not unlikable.
Unlike Mrs. Buhari, Mama Peace made herself a huge part of her husband’s government, so much so that any account of Jonathan’s stay in office is incomplete without her.
Patience exist from Aso Rock brought to a culmination a line of ambitious First Ladies that were intent on having as much power and influence as possible.
Chibok girls
In the light of the kidnap of the 293 Chibok girls, Patience Jonathan played a great role, one which many will never forget, as she appeared on people mobile devices more often than the missing girls, her husband -the President- and activists combined. People watched, rewatched, laughed and shared the viral video of a meeting she had with the Principal of the Chibok school where the girls where kidnapped.
Even in at a time of our nation’s great sorrow, Mama Peace made herself a part of it.
As two of the missing Chibok girls have been found, we wonder how Mama Peace would have reacted if she was still the First Lady.
What would Patience do?
Leave a reply