The Nation Newspaper

Tag: Patricia Etteh

  • Happy times for Patricia Etteh

    Former Speaker of the House of Representatives, Patricia Etteh, is over the moon. After a lifetime of dreaming, she has finally achieved one of her dearest goals. On Tuesday, she and 4, 224 lucky others were called to the Nigerian Bar at an official ceremony presided over by the acting Chief Justice of Nigeria.

    Patricia Olubunmi Foluke Etteh rose to fame when she became the first woman to ever hold the mantle as Speaker of the House of Representatives between June and October 2007 when the late Alhaji Umaru Yar’Adua held sway as president. The Osun-born female politician was poised to consolidate her political status when she was impeached and removed from office for allegedly spending a whopping sum of N628 million to renovate her official residence.

    Bruised but undaunted, the trained hairdresser and cosmetologist dusted her Diploma in Law certificate from the University of Abuja and returned to school for further studies. She headed for the United Kingdom for Law and Forensic Studies at the prestigious Buckingham University, emerging with an LL.B last year.

    Now a certified lawyer, Etteh may have shamed detractors who mocked her in those heady days for being “a mere hairdresser.”

  • Etteh goes to school

    Etteh goes to school

    When next the impeached former Speaker of the House of Representatives, Patricia Etteh, seeks elective post in the murky waters of politics, she will be doing so with a bigger certificate than she paraded during her aborted tenure as the Speaker of the House of Representatives. The woman who holds the record as the first and only female helmsman of lower chamber of the National Assembly has gone back to school.

    And this time, she has not gone back to the classroom to upgrade her knowledge on hair dressing but to study Law. Patricia, who represented the people of Ayedade/Isokan/Irewole Federal Constituency in the House of Representatives, is now a Law student at the prestigious Buckingham University in England.

    The hairdresser turned politician, who had managed to earn a diploma from the University of Abuja, came under attacks in 2007, barely five months after she assumed office as Speaker. She got entangled in high wire politics that attended her approval of some questionable contracts. After months of pressure mounted by the Integrity Group, she finally resigned her position to pave the way for her successor, Hon. Dimeji Bankole.

  • Patricia Etteh gets busy

    Patricia Etteh gets busy

    THE former speaker of House of Representatives, Patricia Etteh, has been off the socials after her inglorious exit from office. The Osun State- born beautician now shuttles between Nigeria and United Kingdom where she is studying law at Buckingham University. Sources said she goes to school from a one-bedroom apartment provided by the institution. She plays a prominent role among Nigerian students who call her ‘mummy’.

    Etteh started her law programme in 2012 and she will be graduating this year. A source revealed that she is the last to leave the library and tutorials and does not dress flamboyantly to class.

    Patricia Etteh, was Nigeria’s first female speaker and was evicted from the exalted position in 2007 .

  • Patricia Etteh gears up for 2015

    Patricia Etteh is, no doubt, one of the major casualties of Nigeria’s stuttering democracy. The beautician-turned-politician had become the Speaker of the House of Representatives in June 2007. It was the first time a woman would be the Speaker of the lower chamber of the National Assembly. But less than three months into her tenure, she was accused of authorising a whopping N628 million for the renovation of her official residence and that of her deputy, as well as the purchase of 12 official cars meant for the House.

    The uproar that followed led to her exit from the exalted position. She has since returned to the drawing board. And if you thought that Patricia would lie low perpetually, then you are undermining the power of a woman. Already, the 59-year-old woman is gearing up for a top elective post in 2015. She is said to be working in tandem with top politicians from her state and beyond to ensure that her 2015 ambition is realised.