15th July, 2012
.Appointment in order says Governor Seriake Dickson
Nigerians have continued to criticise the recent appointment of the country’s First Lady, Dame Patience Jonathan, as a Permanent Secretary in the Bayelsa State Civil Service.
Several people who reacted to the appointment wondered why the Governor of Bayelsa State, Mr. Seriake Dickson, has made it so glaring that he is a puppet in the hands of President Goodluck Jonathan who they accused of installing him against popular wish.
They said when the story first broke out, they thought it was a joke adding that the people of Bayelsa State should not allow such abnormality.
Chairman of the Lagos State House of Assembly Committee on Local Government Administration and Chieftaincy Affairs, Moshood Oshun, described the appointment as an aberration since she was not a full career person, having allegedly left the civil service about 10 years ago.
“There are several pertinent questions we have to ask concerning this appointment.
“Who would she be reporting to or would she remain in Abuja and be receiving her salary as Permanent Secretary?
“The Governor is playing to the gallery and this is very wrong. It should not be allowed,” Oshun advised.
According to the lawmaker, it is understandable for people to be honoured even though they do not merit it, but in a case as this, the state has goofed.
He said the only way she could have been so appointed was if she had continued in the civil service and had risen through the ranks to deserve it.
His colleague and Chairman of the House Committee on Information, Security and Strategy, Olusegun Olulade could not stop laughing when he reacted through the telephone this morning.
Describing it as odd and the highest level of sycophancy, he said the Bayelsa State Government had displayed its lack of vision and credibility.
According to him, “the state has thrown away objectivity and introduced sentiment into governance.
When I first heard it, I told those around me that it could not happen, but it is true.
“Where would she operate from? Aso Rock? This is condemnable,” he said.
The House Committee Chairman on House Services, Ipoola Omisore said the appointment is the highest clownish attempt to governance that he had ever seen in his life.
“It shows Bayelsans are unserious, over-pampered by the derivation formula of the country and this has turned the brain of the leadership of the State upside down,” Omisore stated.
He blamed Governor Dickson for making himself a stooge and shame, adding that the ridicule such appointment had brought upon governance would increase the clamour for the scrapping of the Office of the First Lady.
Mufutau Egberonbe, Chairman of the House Committee on Physical Planning and Urban Development, called the appointment a disgrace on the leadership of the nation and a misplaced priority.
“This is sycophancy of the highest order,” he said noting that the situation could be likened to the period Turai, the wife of the late President Umaru Yar’Adua, became desperate to become the country’s Vice President while her husband was sick.
Egberonbe wondered who would have the courage to issue her directives and how she would cope with two offices even though that of the First Lady is illegal.
“Who among the Commissioners or even the Governor would give her instructions or punish her where she errs?” he asked, adding that it was a waste of resources.
A politician in Lagos State, Ogbeni Segun Adekunle-Alli, said the appointment shows the situation in the country had become unsalvageable, and on path to perdition.
“I never thought the day would ever come in Nigeria when such a person would be appointed a Permanent Secretary
“It just broke the Guinness World Record in Bayelsa when an exclusive post of level 16 or 17 in civil service was drafted for ‘Damegun’ Patience Jonathan, Nigeria’s First Lady. Am seriously weeping for my disgraced country, Nigeria,” he said.
A Nigerian, who gave his name as Sleazy, said President Jonathan had not stopped amazing him, while Mallt said on Twitter that if Mrs. Patience could become a Permanent Secretary, “then there is hope for me to become the Chief Justice of Nigeria even though I’m an environmentalist.”
Beengeela also said on twitter: “Bayelsa State has been a controversial state since the coming of democracy in 1999.”
Joe Dada asked: “why am I not Ebele’s son? I for don become Minister for Defence though without military experience.”
In reaction to widespread criticims of the appointment, the Bayelsa State Government on 14 July said the appointment was in accordance with ongoing general reforms in the state’s public service.
According to the Senior Special Assistant to Governor Seriake Dickson on Media and Public Affairs, Daniel Iworiso-Markson, the state government believes that the services of the First Lady to the development of Bayelsa State and Nigeria, qualify as essential service, which should be recognised and rewarded, not derided and denigrated on the altar of politics.
Iworiso-Markson said Dickson believed that wives of governors, vice-presidents, presidents and all other spouses whose positions were not recognised by the laws of the country should be encouraged to pursue and maintain their independent careers.
“Unknown to a number of people, the First Lady joined the Rivers State Civil Service in the 90’s and upon the election of her husband as Deputy Governor in 1999 transferred her service to the civil service of Bayelsa State.
“She rose through the ranks of the public service of Bayelsa State and was last appointed into the directorate cadre as a level 15 officer in 2005.
“By the traditions of the Bayelsa State Civil Service, officers on directorate level, some of whom are even junior to her present position have been appointed as permanent secretaries before now. Even among the list of those currently appointed, not all of them are the most senior officers.”
He said her appointment was a combination of leadership, output, dedication and geographical spread which informed the governor’s exercise of his discretionary powers to appoint permanent secretaries in consultation with the appropriate authorities.
—Eromosele Ebhomele