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Tag: DAME PATIENCE JONATHAN

  • …And Jonathan, too

    …And Jonathan, too

    We moan about the lost pleasures and antics of Dame Patience. Yet, her husband, the avant-garde gaffe maker, President Jonathan, will also surely be missed. He achieved fame in one defining moment of nobleness when American-style, he placed a phone call to his challenger in the March 28 presidential race to congratulate him and to concede defeat. But years before, he had blundered from one gaffe to another, from one ethnic affront to another sectarian balderdash, and from one policy miscue to another. No president before him, nor any after, has done so much to undermine good governance and national amity as President Jonathan.

    He was noted for saying one thing and meaning another. But trying to put the lie to our unfavourable impression of his hypocrisies, he gave one final testimony of himself, as he conceded defeat, that he promised us his ambition was not worth the life of any Nigerian, and that he also promised he would deliver a free and credible election. He did both, he swore last week. But not before he and his aides enacted the most convoluted attempt to undermine electoral fidelity by the most appalling electoral malfeasances in Rivers, Akwa Ibom and Delta States, malfeasances they nearly got away with.

    But much more than anything, President Jonathan will be remembered for his lack of depth, his fiery umbrage, far-fetched comparisons (Pharaoh, Nebuchadnezzar) borrowed clumsily from the Scriptures, and his quaint philosophy that, somehow, buying loyalty and consciences with state money and contracts was not inimical to his Christian conscience and principles.

    In many ways, it is hard not to conclude that God mercifully brought Dr Jonathan and Dame Patience together, thus sparing, in the profound putdown of the Carlyles by Samuel Butler, four people misery instead of two. Now that they are gone, let the heart not make the mistake of growing fonder.

  • Dame Patience’s fixation with Buhari

    Dame Patience’s fixation with Buhari

    FOR about two weeks or so before yesterday’s poll, Dame Patience Jonathan crisscrossed nearly the entire southern part of Nigeria wooing voters to her husband’s side. During the period, her animated spirit, unfettered by grammar and logic, presented a stark contrast to her husband’s dour and unremarkable performance on the stump. Her élan, especially when she began to wax joyous and lyrical in the vernacular and pidgin, was infectious, sometimes provocative, but undoubtedly unforgettable. In a quaint and uncomfortable way, she was the charismatic, entertaining opposite of her husband’s sullen, quivering unease.

    Other than the 35 percent women representation in President Goodluck Jonathan’s cabinet, which she touted as a great achievement, she did not speak to any government programme of any kind; not the economy, for that was obviously beyond her ken, nor anything related to the reengineering of the society, which is doubtless an arcanum to her. Instead she specialised in speaking about her husband’s opponent in the election, Muhammadu Buhari. Indeed she was fixated with the general, who was for about 20 months a former starry-eyed military head of state between 1983 and 1985.

    Dame Patience spoke ill of her husband’s opponents, whom she considered enemies, and she was versatile in the art of insults, which she passionately believed her victims richly deserved. She also had foul words for the North’s population dynamics, and fouler descriptions for their idiosyncratic culture. In addition, she had contempt for the All Progressives Congress (APC), which she mocked as an expired drug designed to kill. In fact, no person, idea or institution was too sacrosanct to elicit abuse. But her exclusive preserve, her forte, was her tendentious ascription of base, prejudiced and malevolent motives to Gen Buhari. The general, she said, was planning to jail everybody, because in his first time as head of state, he jailed everybody.

    More crucially, as a result of her fixation, and having told herself a lie and believed it, Dame Patience announced during a campaign stop in Oyo State that Gen Buhari planned to jail her after he might have won the poll. She should be careful what she wished for. First, she warned voters not to help Gen Buhari to the throne, for he would jail them hundreds of years. Then, later, she began to personalise the warning, telling her campaign audience that the general planned to send her to prison, an exercise she concluded gleefully in her false religiosity the Holy Ghost would make impossible. Hear her: “I want to warn you not to listen to the All Progressives Congress. The APC does not have materials to match what the PDP has on ground. Their candidate was there in governance initially. What did he do? They only sent your fathers to prison. They are planning to even send me to prison. Holy Ghost fire! Holy Ghost fire! Holy Ghost fire! They have nothing to offer.”

    The highly expressive Dame Patience has managed in one dramatic statement to exhibit religious superficiality, political immaturity and a distinctly rosy worldview often associated with childhood. Her fears, her suspicions, not to say her longings, were unlikely to cut any ice with the rented crowds she entertained in two giddy weeks of campaigning. But what did she care! Her husband, the less excitable, more timorous but infinitely more impetuous President Jonathan also told many tall stories during his campaign, and felt he made huge impressions on his audience. Dame Patience is tarred with the same brush, believing her excitability touched many souls, and her logic sound enough to convert the disbelieving and the wary.

    After all, when Chibok made its grand entry into national consciousness with the tragic tales of abductions and sexual slavery of over 200 schoolchildren, Dame Patience waltz into our lives and minds with what perhaps qualifies as the most famous dramatisation of First Lady meddlesomeness and, pardon this, mediocrity ever. After imperiously sending the Holy Ghost on errand against her unnumbered foes, particularly Gen Buhari, let us tread cautiously and, with broken hearts, pray to heaven lest we be punished with another of Dame Patience’s tragicomic reign.

  • Between maturity and abrasiveness

    Between maturity and abrasiveness

    For the first time since the return to civil rule in 1999, wives of the two frontline presidential candidates have been criss-crossing the country, canvassing for support for their husbands. The First Lady, Dame Patience Jonathan, and Hajia Aishat Buhari, were in Ilorin, the Kwara State capital, recently to campaign. ADEKUNLE JIMOH, who saw them in action, examines the style of the duo.

    Wives of the two main contenders in this week’s presidential elections Hajia Aishat Buhari and Dame Patience Jonathan have been touring the states of the federation to canvass for votes for their husbands; President Goodluck Jonathan of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and Gen. Muhammadu Buhari (rtd), who is the standard bearer of the All Progressives Congress (APC).

    Last week, Mrs. Jonathan and Mrs. Buhari were in Ilorin, the Kwara State capital, to convince woman to vote for their husbands.

    Mrs. Buhari and her entourage were in the ancient town on Monday. During the visit, they paid traditional homage to the Emir of Ilorin, Alhaji Ibrahim Sulu-Gambari. The team also paid a courtesy call on Governor Abdulfatah Ahmed in Government House.

    Mrs. Buhari’s convoy was allegedly attacked by suspected PDP hoodlums around Emir’s road in the metropolis.

    After meeting with the governor, the wife of the APC presidential candidate had a town hall interaction with women. The meeting was primarily to sensitise and educate the womenfolk on how to identify the logo or symbol of the APC on the ballot paper.

    Throughout the visit, Mrs. Buhari carried herself with a measure of elegance. Her speeches were delivered with panache, calmness and maturity. Interestingly, it was also devoid of caustic diatribes against her husband’s opponent.

    Conversely, for Mrs. Jonathan, it was a different ballgame. From her utterances, she saw the contest as a do-or-die affair. She was desperate, abrasive, combative and venomous.

    Mrs. Buhari said: “As you are all aware, women are the major voters.  Women constitute 55 per cent of the number of registered voters in Nigeria. Our duty is to educate the women since we are the major voters, on how to vote, educate them about the party and the logo because now the party has become a very big party.

    “It is very important to educate the electorates to look out for our party symbol, the broom. Our major supporters are the masses, who have been supporters of the APC flag bearer over the years. He was in the defunct All Nigeria Peoples Party (ANPP) and the defunct Congress for Progressive Change (CPC), two of the three major parties that came together to form the APC. This sensitization would make it easy for people who are not literate to identify our party symbol on the ballot paper.

    “My message to the governor; I remember the period before the merger was consummated. I could remember when we came to Ilorin, the only statement I heard from him is that I will confer with the distinguished senator and the former Governor, Dr. Abubakar Saraki, That shows how disciplined he is as a seating governor, not to take decisions on his own, without consulting the leader of the party in the state.

    “I think Kwara State is so lucky to have him a governor; he knows that he has a leader, unlike in other states where the successors and sitting governors are not in good terms with their predecessors, which is not good; politically it is not healthy. We thank the Almighty Allah for letting him know that he has a leader and he did not forget him, and he cannot do without consulting him as a senior or mentor.”

    In contrast, Patience Jonathan told the crowd of women and youth at the campaign arena that God had told her the APC will lose the election. She also defended the office of First Lady, arguing that contrary to claims by the opposition that there is provision for the office.

    Apparently referring to last week’s attack on the convoy of Mrs Buhari, wife of the APC presidential candidate in Ilorin, the First Lady took swipe at leaders of the APC, saying they deliberately planned the campaign itinerary of Mrs Buhari to collide with her own itinerary, all in a bid to create an atmosphere for violence between the two camps.

    She however warned wives of political leaders to always avert trouble in their campaign, pointing out that the election is mostly a contest among men and that women can only serve as observers and peace makers.

    Her words: “The PDP is not rattled. As far as we are there; there is no need for trouble. You know that Mama Peace, your mother, is peace-loving, so the children must also be peace-loving. Women are peace-makers and nay a woman that makes trouble is not worthy of being called a woman.

    “Before I went to Edo State, the APC was there, all to make trouble. I have always been telling them that like to make trouble. I wanted to go to Edo, they were there. Why? To make trouble! I wanted to come to Kwara, they were there. Why? To make trouble! As I was coming today at the airport, they were also coming, so that there will be trouble. But, I told my security people that I am a Mother of Peace, so let them go in peace. We wives of political leaders should not make trouble. So, even if they come to you to make trouble, don’t fall for their trick.

    “Kwara is PDP. They only stole the mandate because the Government House they are occupying today is in the name of the PDP. We shall take it over.  Every day they change from one name to another and very soon they will change to Ebola and then death will come. My God that I serve has told me that they will fail. So, don’t be deceived; don’t listen to their lies.

    “There is office for wife of the President, but they were saying there is none. But, soon they brought one ‘Hajia’ as the wife of the APC presidential candidate and she is now saying, don’t worry my husband made a mistake; we shall make provisions as necessary. Don’t believe what they are saying, hold to what you have because it is better that what you are yet to see.

    While making reference to Buhari’s age, she said: “I am a person that will tell the truth. I will not abuse people, but if you are old you are old. So, leave it to younger people.”

  • Can our first lady be ever amenable? 

    SIR: To say that First Lady, Dame Patience Jonathan’s destructive utterances can ever be controlled, could be an understatement. One cannot imagine that after reading the article titled “Can someone call Dame Patience to order” written by a renowned journalist, Mr. Kanayo Esinulo, which was published at the back page of Daily Sun newspapers of February 13, 2015, she still would not employ decorum. This is so after considering her utterances at a rally in Benin, capital of Edo State the following day, which witnessed minimal improvement. Does it mean that the First Lady is not amenable?

    President Goodluck Jonathan should have taken time out to plead with his wife not to make him lose the March 28 elections because her utterances could be responsible, if added up. It is also a pity that top PDP chieftains, close friends and associates of President Jonathan, seem afraid of asking him to caution the First Lady on her meddlesomeness in party affairs coupled with her flippancy, most of which showcase the party’s pursuit in bad light.

    I am afraid that the PDP is drawing nearer to a verdict of losing the March 28 election. I am also dismayed that more intelligent and educated personalities like Onyeka Onwenu and Mrs. Kema Chikwe, among others, who are normally in the First Lady’s entourage, could not advise her. Or are they cheerleaders and sycophants? They should consider; peradventure another occupant takes over the Aso Rock by May 29, 2015 their fates will be sealed and locked out of the place. I hope they are still intelligent enough to understand this.

    At her Benin outing, the First Lady had as one of her messages that the Presidency had been occupied for eight years by other geopolitical zones and asked why the South-South should be denied the opportunity. To her, this is a selling issue; to many, it is very parochial. Barring short memories, she should have known that apart from the statement being a non-issue, the North should have been allowed to complete Yar’adua’s eight years tenure instead of Goodluck Jonathan contesting in the 2011 elections.

    Moreover, people are quick to remind her that her husband was quoted in the media, at the twilight of 2011 elections, promising not to stay beyond 2015.

    Probably for the sake of the spoils of the office, he should have a rethink.  Also, in Dame Patience’s other statements at the rally, she goofed when, rather than appreciate Edo State governor, Adams Oshiomhole, for cancelling booking earlier made by Mrs. Buhari’s group for use of the Samuel Ogbemudia Station for the same date and favoured her; she described the (Aisha Buhari’s) postponed visit as a plot by the opposition to foment trouble.

    Any right thinking person would be at a loss understanding what her statement in this regard meant.  What a power-drunk, incoherent and insatiable First Lady, people continue to say! The other time, Dame Patience defended her unfortunate statement that anyone who shouts ‘change ‘should be stoned. She said after all, her husband was stoned in Katsina, Bauchi and Taraba; whereas it was established, respectively, in Katsina, Bauchi and Taraba that the acts were carried out by aggrieved PDP members.

    She could not be assuaged by statement of the PDP-controlled Bauchi State Governor Isa Yuguda, about the fact that the stoning was arranged by the FCT minister, Bala Mohammed and also the revelation by the PDP spokesperson in Taraba, confirming that the stoning there was carried out by aggrieved youths who claimed they were not brought in to be part of the arrangement for the President’s visit. The youths did not stop at that. They also torched the State secretariat of the PDP. As Kanayo Esinulo rightly expressed aloud: “Can someone call Dame Patience to order”?

    • Dr. Cyril Kachi Madueke,

    Awka Road, Wuse II, Abuja.

  • My husband deserves another term, says First Lady

    My husband deserves another term, says First Lady

    •Jonathan’s wife continues hate campaign in Ekiti

    First Lady Dame Patience Jonathan has said her husband, Goodluck Jonathan, deserves another term on the strength of his performance in the last four years.

    Mrs. Jonathan continued her attacks and hate campaign on the All Progressives Congress (APC) and its presidential candidate, Gen. Muhammadu Buhari.

    She took the campaign for her husband’s re-election to Ekiti State on the platform of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) Women Presidential Campaign Rally.

    The rally, which took place on the premises of the Governor’s Office, Ado-Ekiti, the state capital, was not without controversy as Mrs. Jonathan treated the crowd to hate message and songs targeted at the APC.

    Mrs. Jonathan, who spoke for about 45 minutes, mixing English with Pidgin, warned Ekiti people against voting for APC.

    The President’s wife described APC as an old drug that used to be in existence when her parents were born, saying “anybody who drinks APC will die”.

    She said: “If you drink APC, you will die. It was when my father and my mother were born that’s when we used to hear APC. They don’t have another name again, it is only performance that will help you if you like change am, change am many times.”

    Later in the rally, Mrs. Jonathan sang a song, which suggested that voting for APC will earn Nigerians jail terms.

    She sang: “If you vote APC, na prison, if you vote Buhari, na prison, if you vote Jonathan, e go better, if you vote PDP e go better.”

    Mrs. Jonathan, who was her comical self, made a signal by crossing her arms to suggest that Nigerians would be in chains, if the APC comes to power.

    She said: “If you vote Goodluck, e go better. How can you (referring to Buhari) jail somebody for three years?

    “Vote PDP o, don’t vote for analogue, vote for digital. Our children are going digital, they want to take us back to analogue, they want to take us back to typewriter era.”

    The First Lady also added a comical dimension to her speech when she suggested that Governor Ayo Fayose’s mother, Mrs. Victoria Olufunke Oluwayose, should be ready to run for President after her husband would have completed his second term.

    She said: “Fayose don be governor before, which is why he don come to complete am, let am complete eight years.

    “Wetin dem wan do for Aso Rock what dem suppose give children. If Jonathan finish eight years, let Mama Fayose at 75 go pick form o.”

    Earlier, Mrs. Jonathan said those who were opposed to her husband failed Nigerians when they had opportunity to govern.

    She said women were relegated before her husband came to power, noting that of the 42 ministers in the Federal Executive Council (FEC), 16 are women.

    Mrs. Jonathan said her husband “took women from the ground” and elevated them to key positions in government, including making a woman the coordinating minister for the Economy.

    The First Lady said the President used Subsidy Reinvestment and Empowerment Programme (SURE-P) to empower women and youths.

    She said SURE-P assisted in building and equipping more hospitals in the country while the Conditional Cash Transfer under the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) empowered women.

    Mrs. Jonathan also said her husband’s administration granted scholarships to more  students while Ekiti is a beneficiary of one of the new federal universities.

    Fayose predicted overwhelming victory for PDP in the presidential poll, reiterating his claim that  Gen. Buhari is too old to be president.

    The governor said Jonathan demonstrated his physical fitness for the nation’s top job by participating in an exercise in Abuja last week.

    Others who spoke at the rally include wife of the Senate president Helen Mark, PDP National Women Leader Mrs. Kema Chikwe, Fayose’s wife Feyisetan, Director of PDP Women Campaign Organisation Mrs. Becky Igwe, among others.

  • Tears as Bayelsa buries eight women politicians, driver

    Tears as Bayelsa buries eight women politicians, driver

    IT a sober ceremony, the eight women, who died on February 14 in a road accident in Bayelsa State and their driver were yesterday buried.

    The women were supporters of First Lady Dame Patience Jonathan.

    Their vehicle crashed near Ahoada on the East-West Road in Yenagoa, the state capital.

    The women and the driver, Mr. Kelechi Oyenkwuru, were buried in four graves at the Gloryland Cemetery in Azikoro, Yenagoa.

    It was a solemn moment for top government officials, families, friends and colleagues at the funeral.

    Some of the coffins contained the remains of three of the women while the others had two bodies each.

    The deceased politicians, who were interred yesterday, included three relations of President Goodluck Jonathan. They were: Consider Amadi, a cousin; Elizabeth Allison-Oguru, wife of the Secretary to Bayelsa State Government (SSG) and Clara Abila.

    Others were: Ayakpo Otolo, Elizabeth Nisakpo, Ginbra Pamowei, Ruby Benjamin, Acha Pere-Kalama.

    The funeral was conducted by the state Chairman of the Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN), Archbishop Israel Eke. It was coordinated by Deputy Governor John Jonah.

    Most of the mourners were dressed in black, apart from the SSG, Prof. Oguru, and members of his household, who wore white garment.

    The cemetery erupted in cries and wailings when the remains were driven to the graveside in nine ambulances.

    At a funeral service at the Gabriel Okara Cultural Centre, President Jonathan regretted the loss of the women-politicians.

    He said they were the state’s best, adding that their death shocked him.

    Jonathan explained that the event was initially scheduled for last Saturday but was moved at his instance to yesterday to enable him pay his last respect to the women.

    The President said he had a personal relationship with almost all the late women.

    He described the day of the incident as an engulfing black Saturday for the state.

    He said: “We have lost eight of our best. The late Elizabeth Oguru is from my village; Consider Amadi is my second cousin and Abila is my relation.”

    Looking at the caskets of the deceased, the President said in an emotion-laden voice: “The caskets contain the remains of people so dear to me. When I remember February 14, it was supposed to be a Valentine’s Day, but it turned out to be a black Saturday for Bayelsa.

    “That was the day I hosted widows of our soldiers. When I got home, I got the news of the sad incident. I lacked words to console the bereaved families. Though some are my relations, I believe they have finished playing their roles. Let me join the others to express my condolences to the bereaved families.”

    Mrs Jonathan, clad in a black dress, described the women as her sisters and friends, who shared her dreams.

    As President of the African First Ladies’ Peace Mission (AFLPM), Mrs Jonathan stressed the need for people to live in peace and unity, irrespective of their political interests.

    Addressing the deceased, she said: “You remain my blood sisters. You left when I needed you most. I pray that some day we shall meet again.”

    Governor Seriake Dickson expressed sadness over the demise of the women politicians.

    He thanked President Jonathan and his wife for attending the funeral.

     

  • Security agencies investigate threats against First Lady

    Security agencies have launched investigations to unmask identities of youths behind repeated threats to attack the First Lady, Dame Patience Jonathan.

    Two youth groups, under the aegis of the Bayelsa Youth Vanguard (BYV) and the Mangrove Boys of Bayelsa (MBB), in different statements issued in Abuja and Yenagoa barred the First Lady from attending a presidential rally of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) scheduled for Yenagoa on February 5.

    The youths who accused Mrs. Jonathan of instigating political crisis in the state and working against the Governor Seriake Dickson vowed to embarrass and disgrace her at the rally.

    But it was gathered on Wednesday that the police and the Department of State Security (DSS) had begun investigation to track persons issuing the threat.

    A security source who pleaded anonymity said the headquarters of the two security agencies were taking the matter seriously.

    “They have started their investigations from Abuja and very soon they will establish the veracity of the threats,” he said.

    Also Bayelsa State Government for the umpteenth time condemned the threats emanating from the youths in very strong terms.

    A Government House statement signed by Dickson’s Chief a Press Secretary, Mr. Daniel Iworiso-Markson, described the reports as the handiwork of the opposition.

    He referred to the groups as faceless and said they only exist on the pages of newspapers and should not be taken serious.

    The statement, however, reassured the First Lady and other Nigerians expected to attend the proposed grand rally of their safety.

  • Youths accuse First Lady of working against Dickson

    Youths accuse First Lady of working against Dickson

    Youths from the creeks of Bayelsa State yesterday accused the First Lady, Dame Patience Jonathan, of working against Governor Seriake Dickson. They warned her against accompanying her husband to the presidential rally of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) scheduled to hold in the state on February 5.

    The warning came a few days after the Bayelsa Youth Vanguard (BYV) issued a similar statement barring the First Lady from attending the rally.

    The youth under the aegis of the Mangrove Boys of Bayelsa (MBB), urged Mrs. Jonathan to steer clear of the rally.

    The youths, in a statement in Yenagoa by its President, Mr. Opuyo Engobara, and Secretary, Mr. Warrman Aderi, accused the First Lady of allegedly aiding her anointed governorship candidate, Mr. Waripamowei Dudafa, to recruit youths to boo and stone Governor Seriake Dickson, at the proposed rally.

    They deplored the president’s silence on the alleged excesses of his wife.

    They said: “In her last visit to the state, Mrs. Jonathan came ahead of her husband, avoided the Government Lodge, stayed at Otuoke for three days busy sponsoring Dudafa’s recruitment drive of youths with the intention to go against the governor by booing and stoning him at the planned rally to discredit his administration before the PDP National Executive Council.

    “Is President Goodluck Jonathan using this as a ploy to join Bayelsa youths to stone Governor Dickson as promised by the President during his presidential campaign in 2011 and subsequently to oust Dickson’s administration since he could hardly rebuke his wife in several of her political atrocities?”

    The creek warriors insisted that the presence of Mrs Jonathan at the rally would cause tension and security breaches.

    “If there is insecurity in Otuoke, can she stay in Otuoke for three days knowing very well that Ijaw youths have no fear for military men stationed in Mr. President’s compound.

    “We, therefore, advised Mrs. Dame Patience Jonathan not to dare us by coming to the rally as we are mobilising against her and she should be aware that Bayelsa is not Rivers State.

    “We are also advising our youths to guide against being used to divide the youth and also enjoin Governor Dickson to go ahead with his developments and should not listen to those who are clamouring for a share of the state fund.

    “We unanimously advise the President to call his wife and aides to order to allow the existing peace to reign in Bayelsa State”, they said.

  • Dickson drops commissioner, aide over rift with First Lady

    Dickson drops commissioner, aide over rift with First Lady

    •Camps take rivalries to Jonathan’s daughter’s wedding

    The political acrimony between Bayelsa State Governor Seriake Dickson and First Lady, Dame Patience Jonathan, burst open yesterday.

    The governor sacked the Commissioner for Local Government, Mrs. Marie Ebikake, and the Special Adviser to the Governor on Federal Government Projects, Chief Remi Kuku, for alleged disloyalty to his camp and hobnobbing with President Goodluck Jonathan’s political bloc.

    The Nation had reported that the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), which hitherto paraded itself as a close-knit family, had been split into two – Dickson’s and First Lady’s camps.

    This paper also reported that those found associating with Mrs Jonathan’s loyalists were perceived as Dickson’s enemies, and vice versa.

    Ebikake and Kuku were said to have been acting as moles for the First Lady, whose ambition to remove Dickson and replace him with her loyalist and Senior Special Adviser to the President on Domestic Matters, Dr. Weripamowei Dudafagh, had become public knowledge.

    The “disloyalty” of the sacked officials to Dickson was said to have become obvious after they were spotted among the women who welcomed at the weekend Mrs Jonathan at her husband’s Otuoke community in Ogbia Local Government Area.

    The First Lady and the President were in the state for the wedding of President Jonathan’s foster daughter, Miss Inebai Paul, who married Dr. Simeon Onyemaechi.

    It was learnt that prior to the wedding, aides to the governor were directed to shun the First Lady, as payback for a similar treatment she meted out to Dickson and her wife, Rachel.

    But Ebikake and Kuku reportedly disobeyed the order as they joined the women loyal to the First Lady.

    The wedding venue was said to have been turned into a political battlefield between women loyal to Dickson and those in Mrs Jonathan’s good book.

    The anti-Dickson women, under the aegis of the First Lady’s Women for Change Initiative (WCI), were said to have eulogised Mrs Jonathan but slammed Dickson.

    But the women, who were mobilised in huge numbers, reportedly stormed Otuoke with drums and large banners, singing Dickson’s praises.

    The pro-Jonathan women were said to have outdone their rivals. A free-for-all almost broke out.

    A source, who spoke in confidence, said: “The scene was tense. The women hired by the WCI were insulting the governor. But the loyal women of Bayelsa put up a show, affirming their support for the governor.”

    But another source in the anti-Dickson’s camp said the refusal of the governor and his wife to accord Mrs Jonathan a befitting reception spurred the WCI women to sing her praise.

    The Chief Press Secretary to the Governor, Mr. Daniel Iworiso-Markson, confirmed the sack of Ebikake and Kuku in a special announcement aired repeatedly yesterday in Yenagoa on the state radio station, Glory 97.1FM.

    Though the statement did not give reasons for the sack, it said the termination of their appointment was “with immediate effect”.

    It added that the governor’s action was in line with the administration’s process of re-organising the machinery of government to deliver on its Restoration Agenda.

    The statement also said Dickson had ordered the immediate redeployment of the Commissioner for Information and Orientation, Markson Fefegha, as the governor’s new Principal Executive Secretary.

    It thanked Ebikake and Kuku for their service to the state and wished them well in their future endeavours.

    Dickson, last March, sacked seven commissioners in a similar State Executive Council (Exco) reshuffle to remove Dudafa’s loyalists from his government.

    Those affected were: Attorney-General and Commissioner for Justice, Francis Egele; Trade, Investment and Industry, Ayakeme Massa and Health, Anapurere Michael Awoli.

  • Re-elect my husband in 2015 – First Lady

    Re-elect my husband in 2015 – First Lady

    Wife of President Goodluck Jonathan, Dame Patience Jonathan, on Monday urged Nigerians, especially women to re-elect the President in the 2015 election.

    The First Lady said it is time for Nigerian women to show appreciation to President Jonathan by coming out en mass to vote for him, for being gender sensitive by appointing women into key political offices.

    She made the call while declaring open a two- day national conference on women and 2015 election in Abuja.

    The conference with the theme: “Making a Difference,” was put together by the Independent National Electoral Commission, the Ministry of Women Affairs and Social Development and the United Nations Development Project (UNDP).

    The Minister of Water Resources, Sarah Ochekpe, who represented the First Lady, stated that women must be ready to invest their time and resources to create more opportunities for their participations in policy making as well contribute their quota to nation’s economic and political growth.

    Ochekpe, who called on the National Assembly to implement the national policy for gender, however charged women especially political aspirants to seize the opportunity of the conference to acquire leadership trainings and be informed of the of the proper electoral processes that will improve the country.