The Nation Newspaper

Tag: ex-first lady

  • Ex-First Lady travels abroad

    Former First Lady Patience Jonathan has travelled to Europe. Former President Goodluck Jonathan is still in their home in Otuoke, Ogbia Local Government Area of Bayelsa State.

    It was gathered that the wife of the former President might have left for London, the United Kingdom (UK) on Saturday after attending an interdenominational thanksgiving service organised in their honour by Governor Seriake Dickson.

    A source, who spoke in confidence, said Mrs Jonathan appeared unhappy at the events organised to receive them by the Dickson-led administration.

    “She was not happy associating with anything Dickson. But she was compelled to attend some of the events just to fulfil righteousness. She didn’t waste time in Otuoke. She left for London immediately after the thanksgiving service,” the source said.

    Mrs Jonathan has been embroiled in a battle of wits with Dickson over next year’s governorship election.

    The former First Lady has not hidden her dislike for Dickson and his administration.

    She was said to have pulled many stunts that unsettled the governor.

    Mrs Jonathan controls a faction of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), which is bent on denying Dickson his re-election bid.

    Jonathan yesterday attended a service organised by his kinsmen at Anglican Church in Otuoke.

    The former President was accompanied by Dickson, some of his former aides and some members of the governor’s State Executive Council (Exco).

    At the thanksgiving service on Saturday at St. Peter’s Anglican Church, Yenagoa, Mrs Jonathan took the second Bible reading from Psalm 121:1-8.

    The former First Lady sang an appreciation song to God for helping her family throughout their tenure in Abuja.

    She got a present from a group of Abuja women, led by songstress Onyeka Onwenu.

  • Ivory Coast court jails ex-first lady 20 years over poll violence

    Ivory Coast court jails ex-first lady 20 years over poll violence

    A court in Ivory Coast on Tuesday in Abidjan, sentenced former first lady, Simone Gbagbo, to 20 years in prison, for her role in a 2011 post-election violence.

    Rodrigue Dadje, her lawyer, said the trial verdicts were announced after nine hours of deliberations by the jury.

    He said Gbagbo was tried alongside 82 other allies of ex-President Laurent Gbagbo.

    “This is purely a political decision to keep her out of the political game,’’ he said.

    He said they were being tried in a case, in which more than 3,000 people, were killed.

    Dadje said Gen. Bruno Ble, who headed the elite Republican Guard, and former Navy Chief, Adm.Vagba Faussignaux, were both jailed for 20 years, while the former president’s son got shorter sentence.

    “The jury members retained all the charges against her, including disturbing the peace, forming and organising armed gangs and undermining state security. It’s a shame,” he said.

    Dadje said the sentence handed down by the six-member jury, was longer than the 10 years requested by the state prosecutor.

    He said the former first lady’s rights, were also suspended for 10 years.

    The lawyer said Pascal Affi-N’Guessan, President of Gbagbo’s Ivorian Popular Front (FPI) party, was also handed an 18-month suspended sentence.

    The ex-first lady said she had been insulted and humiliated by the prosecution, which, she said, had failed to prove her guilt, adding that she told her part of the truth.

    “I’m prepared to forgive. I forgive because, if we don’t forgive, this country will burn,” she said. “