9th March, 2015
The excesses of Mrs Patience Jonathan, wife of President Goodluck Jonathan, should be checked. The woman, whose actions and hate campaign speeches belittle her status as the wife of a president, has consistently thrown caution to the wind while campaigning for her husband’s re-election for a second term. She hauls invectives at opposition party leaders, calls them names and issues threats as well. To this end, the decision of the All Progressives Congress Presidential Campaign Organisation (APCPCO) to despatch a letter of complaint against Patience to the International Criminal Court (ICC), the Inspector General of the Nigeria Police (IGP) and the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC), among others, is a welcome development.
The APCPCO made a formal complaint against Patience following her inciting remarks during a rally in Calabar, Cross River State last week, during which she called on PDP supporters to “stone” anyone who came to the state asking for change. According to the complaint signed by Rivers State Governor and Director General of APCPCO, Rotimi Amaechi, ‘Change,’ as the entire country must know by now, is the slogan of the APC – the rallying cry of a political party that wishes to bring hope of greater and better things to come for Nigeria and Nigerians.
He said by her statement, Mrs. Jonathan was clearly calling on PDP supporters in Calabar to attack supporters and campaigners of the APC in the state and likened some of Mrs. Jonathan’s inciting statements and conduct during this political campaign season, to those of Mrs Simone Gbagbo, wife of the former president of Cote d’Ivoire, Laurent Gbagbo, prior to that country’s election in 2010.
Just as the ICC indicted Mrs. Gbagbo for planning to perpetrate brutal attacks, including murder, rape, and sexual violence, against her husband’s political opponents in the wake of the 2010 election, Patience should be held accountable for any violence that may occur in Cross River State whenever APC campaigns there.
Already, Patience Jonathan’s utterances in Okrika, her birth place in Rivers State, led to violence that claimed some lives there during a recent campaign by the APC. It was reported that she ordered that APC should not be allowed to campaign in her home town. And when the party’s governorship candidate, Dakuku Peterside, held a rally there, hell was let loose when gunmen believed to be Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, thugs, opened fire on the crowd, killing a policeman on the spot and wounding scores of others.
Because of Patience Jonathan’s overbearing influence in Rivers State, the state has become a reference point for violence since campaigns for election began. There have been frequent attacks by gunmen. Last weekend four persons were killed by unidentified gunmen.
The position of First Lady is not recognised by the Nigerian constitution and as such Mrs. Jonathan does not occupy any formal office in the Nigerian government to be accorded the kind of importance she now flaunts. Her imperial majesty throws her weight around as if she is the power behind the throne. Her desperation to get her husband re-elected and the manner she conducts herself is a source of concern to right thinking members of the public. She is an utter disgrace to the office of the President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria. By now President Jonathan should have reined her in, unless the President does not see anything wrong in the conduct of his wife.