.‘We Felt Humiliated’
In what appeared like a melodramatic twist to the Chibok schoolgirls’ abduction saga that has gripped Nigeria and, indeed, the whole world since April 14, First Lady Dame Patience Jonathan enters the scene in a manner that has left not a few Nigerians raising questions over the real motive behind her intervention role in the rescue mission.
In her bid to investigate the abduction saga, Dame Patience Jonathan held two separate meetings with stakeholders last week, the majority of who were leaders and members of various women’s groups in the country. Ironically, what came out of the meetings left many tongues wagging as many Nigerians eventually perceived that the First Lady’s purported effort to get to the root of the matter was nothing short of tampering a ‘national tragedy’ with a comic performance in the theatre of the absurd.
The First Lady’s role tended to prove right the Wikileaks report about her, which was published in 2010. The report said the woman was overbearing on President Jonathan, and could hardly come under control. The report said, “Jonathan is married to Patience Faka Jonathan, said to have a more forceful personality than her husband. A source in Bayelsa said Mrs. Jonathan “runs her own show and the husband has little or no control over her.” She is said to have tremendous influence over Jonathan and his administration.”
Apart from how she ‘interrogated’ officials from Borno State, the First Lady has played controversial roles in the country’s leadership. For instance, it was believed her ambition to decide how events played out in Rivers State created a serious political confusion. She was seen as the power that sustained the then Police Commissioner in the state Joseph Mbu from being redeployed for a long time in spite of the fact that Governor Rotimi Amaechi said he had lost confidence in him. In the state, she is seen as a force to reckon with as the nation marches toward 2015. Her support for Education Minister Nyesom Wike is not hidden, and it is expected that the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) would defer to her. At the national level, she is seen as the route to the President’s heart.
BORNO OFFICIALS IN FIRST LADY’S COURT
The first meeting held penultimate Friday resolved to summon some Borno officials, including the state’s police commissioner, education commissioner, the chairman of Chibok Local Government, the divisional police officer, wives of federal legislators representing Chibok, wife of the Chibok village head, the school principal and parents of the missing girls.
These individuals, the First Lady had believed, would help unveil the circumstances leading to the abduction. Also at the meeting, Dame Patience appointed Governor Shettima’s wife, who was absent at the seven-hour meeting, as chairman of a committee she raised to compel appearance of those summoned. Interestingly, Mrs Jonathan, who slammed a two-day ultimatum on Governor Shettima to produce the missing girls also vowed to lead a protest to Maiduguri to demand the girls’ whereabouts from the governor.
The second meeting held Sunday was perhaps the last straw that broke the camel’s back. It began with Mrs Jonathan calling names of those she had summoned. Apparently infuriated by the absence of some stakeholders, especially the wife of Borno governor, Hajiya Nana Shettima; Dame Patience Jonathan broke down in tears, repeatedly saying “There is God o.” The audience, comprising wives of the governors of Nasarawa, Zamfara, Kaduna, Katsina, Kogi, Gombe, Benue, Abia and Akwa Ibom States could not help laughing, though cautiously.
Mrs Jonathan said: “Before all these killings, I called and told the First Lady of Borno State to let us come together. She answered me yes, but when the kidnap happened, I called her, she did not answer me. I invited her, she did not turn up even up till today. No woman will fold her arms when her house is on fire. Before last Friday, I called her and she promised to attend the Friday’s meeting here. But to our greatest surprise, she sent her commissioner for women affairs. Also today, she sent her commissioner for women affairs. She’s the mother of Borno State. She’s the first mother of these missing girls. I’m their grandmother.
“If she’s not concerned and she says she doesn’t want her people to be saved, then it’s left to her. If you tell us you’re not crying, why should I cry more than the bereaved? If I cry more than the bereaved, the world would ask me a question. If after today, Borno women say we shouldn’t help them, then Nigerian women, don’t demonstrate again. If you demonstrate and police do you anything, you’re on your own o. Borno women are playing game. Nigerian women shouldn’t go out for demonstration. Don’t use school children for demonstration again. Borno women are not ready for cooperation.
“People are dying. How can you play politics when you see your fellow human beings dying? Nigerian women, I beg you to support me. Why will we join our husbands to kill others? We want the killings to stop. If we don’t get to know the whereabouts of our daughters, the next thing is they (Boko Haram) will get to us. I’m not accusing anybody o. My own is let us stop killings and kidnapping. I really want these killings to stop. Our sisters in the north, we’re one country and we’re sisters. We’re not accusing you; we don’t mean any harm and we’re not quarrelling with anybody; we just want to stop all these killings”.
While accusing protesters of conspiring against her husband, the embittered First Lady ruled that all protests against the girls’ abduction be stopped immediately. “Look at the way the matter was brought up. The country would’ve gone on fire. You’re making it look as if the president abducted the children. You want to kill my husband; you want to make me a widow before you go and rest. My God will never make me a widow”, she said.
She also accused the West African Examinations Council (WAEC) guilty of conspiracy. Turning towards the WAEC official in attendance, Charles Eguridu, she said: “Why did you register over 60 years old man for WAEC exams? You’ve already put the people that will kidnap the girls into the hall. If Chiroma Adamu is not over 60 years, bring him here before us. Some are 50 years plus and 40 years plus. Principal (of the school), you’ve already arranged your Boko Haram.”
After commanding the police commissioner to take a protest leader, Naomi Mutah, to the “IG and the president”, for impersonating a parent of an abducted girl, the First Lady ended the meeting around 3am with a conclusion that no girl was missing.
“My sisters…with what’s happening now, will you believe that any children got missing?”
When the women in attendance responded by saying “no”, Mrs. Jonathan continued: “So, we, Nigerian women, are saying no child is missing in Borno state. If any child is missing, let the governor go and look for them. There is nothing we can do again. We’ll now go spiritual…God will reveal them one by one. The blood of the innocent victims will come out and speak.”
The First Lady’s unfolding drama in the abduction saga continued in the early hours of Monday 5 May when she personally ordered the arrest of Naomi Mutah, who led protests over the schoolgirls’ abduction. Mrs. Jonathan, at a stakeholders’ meeting held at the Presidential Villa, which began the previous night, ordered Mutah’s arrest for alleged impersonation.
Expressing anger that Naomi had claimed to be one of the parents whose daughters were abducted, she said: “When they said they’ve come to lay complaint to the government and the National Assembly, I asked for the leader of the mothers whose children were abducted. This woman (Naomi) was the one that came forward and said her child was abducted. I believed her and I asked the Women Affairs Minister to follow her to the National Assembly.
“This is the woman who went to the National Assembly with the women in black and claimed that her child was missing and that she is the leader of parents whose children are missing in Chibok. The Senate President believed them, even me, I believed them. She called people like Oby to follow her as they also believed her. Oby is innocent and I don’t blame her because even me as First Lady, I was moved.
“Today, when I sighted her, I said within myself that we’ll get to the conclusion today because one of those whose children are missing is here. But to my greatest surprise, when we asked her, she said she is a representative. She wrote down her name as Grace. A whole civil servant impersonating! She should be arrested for impersonation.”
‘WE WERE RATTLED AND SHORT OF WORDS’
Meanwhile, officials of the Borno State government, including those from Chibok and authorities of the school were said to have been “rattled and short of words” when Dame Patience Jonathan described them as “Boko Haram members” while interrogating them on issues relating to the missing girls at the Aso Villa in Abuja.
Sources close to the meeting confided in Sunday Trust that Mrs. Jonathan believes that the whole saga, and by implication, the protracted Boko Haram insurgency are politically motivated, aimed at discrediting President Jonathan in the eyes of the world, and making it impossible for him to govern.
One of the sources said throughout the meeting, the First Lady refused to realize that the security challenge in the northeast predates the administration of Jonathan.
“She strongly believes that some forces are bent on frustrating her husband and his government and ultimately taking over powers from him… She refused to appreciate the fact that Boko Haram is after everybody and is willing to exterminate everyone, irrespective of religion, tribe or political affiliation. To her, it is all about power struggle between the north and the south,” the source said.
“In fact, she was outraged and outrightly called us ‘Boko Haram”. She even blamed the Nigerian Constitution for not giving the President the outright powers to remove a governor during emergency rule…she was really, really angry because she feels Governor Shettima had a hand in the mess.
“But the most unfortunate thing is that, all the women around the First Lady during the interrogation kept nodding their heads, affirming what she was saying,” the source said.
Another source said, “They wanted us to denounce our position (on the abductions)…They wanted us to say nothing happened. But how on earth can we be so callous for political reasons? Do you think any of the distraught parents will forgive us if we forsake them? Would any parent declare his son missing because of political reason, or because he was given money?” he asked.
He added: “When we stood our ground, the First Lady became angrier and even told us to go and resign our positions,” he said.
Hundreds of people from Chibok and environs, under the umbrella of Kibaku Area Development Association (KADA), on Friday said they want politics to be kept aside, stressing that their daughters are actually missing and that they want them back.
Speaking during a protest match at the Government House in Maiduguri, Mr. Alabe Grema, the spokesman of KADA pleaded with the federal government to intensify efforts towards ensuring safe return of our girls.
“Our people have been faced with psychological trauma following the abduction of the girls. Some have even gone mad due to the trauma of the abduction,” he said.
CHIBOK RESIDENTS ARE LIVING IN AGONY
A resident of Chibok, Yakubu Lalai, whose two daughters are among the missing schoolgirls told Sunday Trust on telephone that his family has been living in a state of agony since the incident.
Lalai who named his missing daughters as Maryamu and Naomi said: “Since the news of the abduction was broken to us we have been living in agony. I have two wives each whose daughters were taken away. While my first wife has developed hypertension as a consequence and is now hospitalized, my second wife is now acting as if she has gone insane. It would have been better for us to bury our daughters (if they were dead) and rested, rather than living with this trauma of lack of information about their whereabouts”, Lalai said.
He expressed shock at Dame Patience’s declaration that there was no abduction saying: “Our churches in Chibok have now turned into mourning centres instead of worship centres as a result of this abduction.”
FIRST LADY’S ROLE UNCONSTITUTIONAL
A Kaduna-based legal practitioner and the Executive Director of Kaduna Human Rights Association, Barrister Sadau Garba has questioned the legality of Mrs Jonathan’s actions, saying as far as Nigeria’s constitution is concerned, there is no provision for the office of the First Lady.
“The constitution recognizes only the President, the Vice President, Ministers and Advisers at the national level. Any serving President who wants his wife to be seen performing something publicly, he can make his wife a Minister or make her an Adviser in his cabinet. It can be accepted, but the public may make jest of the person.”
Even in 2010, Dr Reuben Abati, the spokesman to the president, wrote on the unconstitutionality of some of the activities of Dame Patience Jonathan. He had written that, “The wife of the President of Nigeria, or a state Governor, or a local council chairman, is not a state official. The same applies to husbands if the gender is reversed. He or she is unknown to the constitution or the governance structure. Recent history has however made it a convention to have the spouses of persons in such positions under the guise of providing support, play some ceremonial roles. This has been routinely abused. Under the Jonathan presidency, Dame Patience Jonathan even got a special allocation in the original budget for the 2010 Golden Jubilee anniversary whereas she has no official, financial reporting responsibilities! The international standard is that spouses in these circumstances must not only appear but be seen to be above board like Caesar’s wife. They must not misbehave like Marie Antoinette.” The article was published in The Guardian of Thursday, August 27 2010.
There has been national outcry over her unconstitutional role. But it could still be repeated another day.
Source: Daily Trust
