The whereabouts and health status of the First Lady, Mrs. Patience Jonathan, remain shrouded in utmost secrecy. Sunday Oguntola reports on the many controversies surrounding her continued absence from Aso Rock and the true story of her medical status.
Nearly 40 days after she was reportedly flown to Horst Schmidt Klinik Hospital in Wiesbaden, Germany for treatment of an undisclosed ailment, the whereabouts and condition of the First Lady, Mrs. Patience Jonathan, remain unknown. It’s a classic case of the more you investigate, the less you get.
Last week, the media was awash with speculations over her status. Many online agencies reported she had left the hospital in preparation for her return home. But Sahara Reporters, a popular United States-based online agency run by Nigerians, debunked the reports, quoting a source that said she was still hospitalised as at 6pm local time on Thursday.
When our correspondent contacted her Media aide, Mr. Ayo Osinlu, he neither confirmed nor denied the return of Mrs. Jonathan. He simply said: “I cannot confirm that because I don’t know your source”. On when Nigerians should expect the First Lady, he was even more evasive, refusing to be committal.
Asked how she was faring, Osinlu only said: “We give Jesus praise”. Prodded further, he wondered: “Don’t you give Jesus praise?” He pledged to get back with details, a promise he didn’t fulfill as at press time.
Our efforts to speak with the German hospital also came to no avail as our calls to the following numbers – +49611433436 and +490611432377 – only yielded a stock answering machine response in German language.
A GALE OF SPECULATIONS
This kind of blackout is why the rumour mill keeps running on Dame Patience, a boisterous, gregarious First Lady who brightened up public functions with her bubbly personality. Since her ‘disappearance’ from the public space, there has been no official statement or pronouncement on her ailment. The best attempt came from Osinlu who said she was “resting abroad” after hectic schedules. This has left the media speculating on the nature of her illness. While Sahara Reporters initially reported she was hospitalised for food poisoning after a surgical procedure went awry, a Lagos-based evening newspaper, PM News, claimed she is being treated for cancer of the uterus.
Leadership Newspapers quoted one of the consultants working on Mrs. Jonathan as saying she had undergone some intestinal operations to maintain a firm tummy, a process she said led to poisoning and complications.
The source was quoted to have said: “Those operations that were performed on Mrs. Patience Jonathan led to a ruptured stomach and I think that was the reason she was fainting and as well having abdominal pains before she was brought here for treatment,” the source said.
SaharaReporters later reported she is undergoing treatment for Parkinson disease relying on medical sources in the hospital. One of the agency’s sources claimed the disease was largely responsible for her clumsiness, drawling speech and slow movement at public events.
The First Lady, he explained, has been suffering serious trembling in the left hand. “That’s why she always uses her right to hold the microphone when speaking at public events,” the source was quoted to have said. He added Mrs. Jonathan is affected by stiffness of the limbs and trunk which affects her movement.
HOW HER HEALTH’S TROUBLES STARTED
Investigations by our correspondent revealed Mrs. Jonathan has been battling with the lingering effects of a partial stroke suffered many years ago. While no one is certain how the condition arose, reliable sources in Bayelsa claim it occurred at a time of emotional upset over matrimonial differences back when President Jonathan was still Deputy Governor.
A source close to the First Family said the First Lady actually moved out of the Deputy Governor’s residence in anger to express her displeasure over the said matrimonial issues.
It was gathered she moved to Otuoke, the President’s village, to cool off for some time before former Governor Diepreye Alamieyeseigha called for truce and reconciled husband and wife. Our correspondent learnt it was a move too late as the First Lady’s health had suffered serious bashing from the shock. She was said to have developed high blood pressure while the crisis lasted.
She reportedly fell ill later and was diagnosed as suffering from partial stroke. A team of doctors, our source added, has been managing her condition ever since. The condition affected her movement making her limp while walking. When the First Family moved to Abuja, a battery of specialists were always on hand to attend to any emergency arising from the condition.
Sources said her hectic public functions and restless travels must have aggravated her health conditions. “When you are hypertensive and in public office, you are in serious danger. When you travel a whole lot and hardly have time to rest then you are hitting the red zone. The chances are you will break down irredeemably, requiring serious emergency services,” a medical doctor who craved anonymity confided last week.
When she enjoyed better health, Mrs. Jonathan was always seen at public functions, favouring the nation with her boisterous personality. She was a moving force during her husband’s electioneering campaign last year, traversing the length and breadth of the nation to scout for votes. She mobilised women anywhere she went, showing off her strong will and political resilience.
When President Jonathan won the election, she did not slow down. Rather, she intensified her travels and activities. Her office was always bubbling with one event or the other. When terrorists started throwing bombs, she described them as disgruntled elements not pleased her husband was in power. To demonstrate her workaholic nature and ambition, she was appointed a Permanent Secretary in Bayelsa State last July despite public outcry.
Mrs. Jonathan simply dismissed misgivings about her appointment, saying First Ladies should be given more roles and recognitions in the constitution to enable them support their husbands. She even canvassed for constitutional roles for First Ladies and entitlement to retirement benefits.
According to her: “We the wives of political office holders, if our names are not in the constitution and our husbands retire with benefits, the Constitution amendment committee should also look into the issue of wives of political appointees. We should be included in the Constitution so that we too can retire with benefits. With that we can enjoy our career.”
KEEPING NIGERIANS WAITING
Her absence from the public radar has continued to elicit concerns from Nigerians. More distressing is the secrecy surrounding her medical condition and status. For the Presidency, her health is a private issue that should never become public issue. Presidential aides argue she is not an elected public officer. Critics, however, say Mrs. Jonathan is too visible a public figure to be ignored.
As the First Lady, Nigerians, they argue, deserve to know the nature of her ailment. Former Foreign Affairs Minister, Chief Tom Ikimi, believes Nigerians have the right to know how their First Lady is doing. According to him: “The Presidency’s secrecy over the matter is evocative of the uncertainty over the fate of late President Umaru Yar’Adua, who died in Saudi Arabia in 2010.
“Nigerians are indeed concerned about the health of their First Lady and want to know the situation of her health and at the same time wish her quick recovery and good health. Mrs. Patience Jonathan is a public figure and not just an ordinary Nigerian and as such, the public has a right to know her state of health and even that of her husband, President Goodluck Jonathan, as is done in other civilised climes.”
But Senior Special Assistant to the President on Public Affairs, Dr. Doyin Okupe, insists Nigerians should be empathic, not probing about the condition of the First Lady. He said: “I think even if it is a suggestion that the wife of the President is sick, what I will expect Nigerians to feel is empathy, not probing, not questioning (about her health).”
TALES FROM GERMAN HOSPITAL
Our correspondent sent an email to the German hospital where Mrs. Jonathan is reported to be receiving treatment but there was no reply. Calls to the telephone lines were picked by answering machines speaking in German. But investigations reveal that the Horst Schmidt Klinik Hospital where she’s been receiving care specialises in cancer treatment – fuelling rumours the First Lady’s case may have to do with the ailment.
The website links directly to the Breast Centres Network with its opening page reading: “Our breast unit is a comprehensive breast care center certified by the German Cancer Society (DKG) and the German Society of Sinology (DGS) since 2004. In 2006 we have obtained Eusoma initial accreditation. We treat about 900 patients with breast cancer disease including 350 patients with newly diagnosed breast cancer disease per year, while our outpatient diagnostic section sees about 3500 patients per year.”
On facilities, it says: “Our clinic is fully equipped with technical facilities for minimally invasive breast diagnostic measures. The spectrum of surgery includes ablative and conservative as well as reconstructive interventions.
“We perform antilogous and heterogonous reconstructions as well as auxiliary diagnostic procedures and the sentinel lymph node techniques. Systemic treatment, such as antibody-, endocrine- and chemo-therapy, as well as supportive agents, that are initiated in our interdisciplinary conferences, are administered in our outpatient clinic under the auspices of experienced gynecological oncologists. Our breast unit is an active center of national and international study groups and an assessment center of the national mammography screening project.”
Earlier media reports confirmed the First Lady is under treatment in the hospital as confirmed by many consultants. Though the hospital offers other services, it specialises in cancer cases. That the First Lady is there may well confirm media reports that her ailment is cancer-related.
HER SPECULATED AILMENTS
* Food poisoning
* Parkinson’s disease
* Cancer of uterus
* Partial strokes
* Abdominal rupture
