Esther Ebiere Gbonkumor, a business woman and younger sister to First Lady, Dame Patience Jonathan, in this interview with Ibrahim Apekhade Yusuf, shares fond memories of growing up with her older sibling.
As a younger sibling of the First Lady, you probably must have lived together. What was growing up like?
(Laughs) We grew up in Port Harcourt. Oh, it was real fun, it was wonderful! I remember her as a mobiliser and a leader who always wanted to do something and see women gather around. She has been like that right from her youth and also very hard working.
If she begins something, maybe, a business, and she seems not to be getting anywhere, she would not relent; she would continue to strive until she makes a success out of it. She is the kind of person that never says die. She doesn’t believe in failure. She will keep on working hard at something until she gets the desired results she wants. I have always known her to be an industrious person right from her youth. She has never been a lazy person at all. She has always been involved in one business or the other. My other siblings are like that as well. In fact, we all copied these traits and attributes from our mother, who was also very self-reliant.
A lot of people have this notion that the First Lady is very domineering. Was she a bully in her younger days?
No, she wasn’t. What I know is that she is a very sensitive person. She is not one to keep quiet when she sees you on the wrong side. Once she sees you doing the wrong thing, it triggers something within her which makes her react. She is just a no-nonsense person but also a very loving person too. Above all, she is someone who has compassion for the youths, widows and the less privileged in the society. As someone close to her, I know she has been involved in one form of charity or another right from her youths. Helping people, especially the underprivileged in the society, comes natural to the First Lady.
What are some of the fond memories of her you remember while you were growing up together?
I know she liked playing ludo game a lot in her younger days and gisting with girls of her age like most girls do. She has always been a sociable person right from her youth. She likes relating with people and all that.
What is your family like?
It is a mixed family of males and females. We intermingle with different ethnic groups like the people from the north, south, you name it. Our father was someone who when he sees you’re the serious type picks you up and brings you into the family regardless of where you come from and starts to train you. So, nearly everybody that makes up my family are people from different parts of the country. But we have always lived as one big happy family.
So, you have a large family, more or less?
Sure.
Can you be specific on the size of the family?
Let’s put that aside. It’s personal.
You talked about some of the likes and dislikes of the First Lady. Can you share with us how she used to spend her spare time?
I really don’t think she had any spare time for herself as such. As far as I know, she has always been a very restless person because she likes getting involved with one thing or the other that sort of kept her busy round the clock. And once in a while, she likes mixing with people like I told you earlier. She is also very inquisitive too.
There are lots of things about the person of the First Lady. What is it about her that people don’t understand?
Everybody is like that. It’s not anybody you see that you easily warm to up just like that. Just like you’re a stranger to me now, you don’t expect me to open up to you like that without knowing who you’re and your motives. So, everybody has something that holds them back at every point in time.
So, as the First Lady, if she sees you and doesn’t open up to you, it is not because she is feeling too proud or something like that. But let me also add that the First Lady is being highly misunderstood. I know that for a fact because she is somebody I grew up with. I know for certain that the First Lady is a very natural person, who likes being herself all the time. She is a very straight forward person who hates it when people come to bear false tales to her. She (Dame Patence Jonathan) doesn’t like cheating or any form of injustice at all. In fact, I can say she is a rebel for a cause she believes in. She is an activist by nature and she has always been like that right from her youth. As far as I know, she’s someone who is ready to sacrifice her comfort just to see that others are satisfied and very happy. She is that kind of person. People who know her can also attest to the fact that she is ever willing to starve just to put food on the table for others to eat.
You lost your mum recently, may the Lord bless her soul. What kind of relationship did your siblings have with your mother, especially the First Lady?
We took after our mother in every way. We are just like the way she was. She was very hard working, loving and caring as well. You can imagine she was supposed to be going about with escort and all that, but she preferred to lead a very low key life. Just like the First Lady, our mother was a very natural woman. You can see the First Lady, anytime she feels the need to express herself, she just takes up the microphone to say her piece of mind even if her spelling and pronunciation may be faulty, she is never afraid to speak her mind anytime, any day. She likes being simple. To our mother, being natural is the best thing in life and we remember her for that.
