The Case to Tame Dame

I read Babs Ajayi’s article– “The Grabby lives of the Jonathans: Lesson from Cherrie Blair.” Babs wrote all the way from Quebec, Canada. Ideas have a multiplicity function. Bab’s idea of the article came (according to him) after he read Mrs. Cherrie Blair’s autobiography, and mine came from reading his revealing article. Our goal is the same: to raise our voices, crying, screaming, perhaps the Jonathans would hear and learn. Babs Ajayi’s article was a window into the life of former British First Lady as revealed in her autobiography “Speaking for Myself.” He talked about how things were and is done in the seat of power in UK. He also recommended the book for the Jonathans. But I am concerned about the place of Mrs. Dame Patience in President Jonathan’s administration. I hope she read Mr. Bab’s article too. Because she would be, am sure, unnecessarily too busy to read Cherrie Blair’s book.

Seeing Mrs. Jonathan’s assumed position in her husband’s government inspires myriad questions. And I wonder if she is only the president’s wife, the vice president or perhaps a special adviser of some sort. She has assumed a more pivotal role in her husband’s government than in the family as a wife. The last time I checked, there is no constitutional provision for the office of the first lady, yet she is keenly and deeply immersed in governance… and we all fold our hands and watch, like helpless orphans.  According to Babs, Cherrie Blair’s book presented the side of British government that is “rigid and extremely careful with money,” succinctly stipulating “who spends the money and how it is spent.” But again, my effort is greatly challenged by the book’s expression of the system as a “long-held tradition” which clearly defines the role of friends and family members of the prime minister. I am concerned because our tradition is a funny practice; anything goes for whoever comes in to power. The till is overly open for whoever the president considers ‘good enough’ or a ‘friend.’ Cast your mind back, Turai Yar’adua was considered to be ruling from the background especially when her husband- president was incapacitated by bad health. Today, Dame Patience is perceptibly a political ‘masquerade’, recognized by Nigerian government as against the constitution and people of Nigeria. Such is the tradition here. If you are lucky enough to be the wife of a president or governor (first lady), then you are a governor or president of your own sort. Funny practice! Think about it, how many official (including medicals) trips has the first lady made since 2011when her husband became president of Nigeria? Who sponsors those trips? It is the tax payer’s money! If you consider the position of Cherrie Blair as first lady and that of Dame Patience you will be sorry for Nigeria; a country where 1 out of 3 children of school age are out of school, where over 120,000,000 people are still in darkness in twenty-first century. The problems with Nigeria abound. In functional democratic countries there is limit to what you can do even as the president. The constitution is not just a set of rules that people use to leverage easy-life; it is a law, it is meant to guide us including people in authority. So, if the constitution does not recognize the office of the first lady why then does the country spend tax payer’s money on her concerns; paying her coteries of aids, sponsoring her politically frivolous expeditions? Unfortunately, even as I write, the first lady is brazenly busy justifying her supposed position and office, saying it is “inseparable” from the presidency. Certainly, this is not democracy. It must be something else, for democracy is rule of law.

 The Nigeria’s first lady has been in the news for some time now after she made N4b proposition in February through the Federal Capital Territory to the National Assembly for the construction of the African First Ladies Peace Mission house in Abuja. The proposal had since raised dust even in public domain. Thanks to the National Assembly who was quick to quash the unpopular proposal saying it was “irrational to commit scarce resources to less important project.” Well done. But again I ask - is the Federal Republic of Nigeria responsible for the welfare of the First Ladies Mission? How did this proposal get into the budget of the FCT? For Christ sake, Nigeria is not obliged to build any house for the women group. I am thinking about what N4b will do for Nigeria: if properly invested in agriculture, for instance, the gain would be amazing - jobs, food…. But Dame has no mind that thinks that way. She rather prefers the status of ‘Father Christmas,’ sharing money and material things to persons and groups. It is nice to be generous and philanthropic, but we are talking about a Nigeria project. The N5m she recently lavished on the law students at Bwari caused serious rift among the students. Mrs. Jonathan has to be checked.

Like Babs noted in his piece, Mrs. Blair was constantly reminded by the British government that she was “just” the prime minister’s wife,” that she was to be seen and not to be heard.” So, basically Mrs. Blair had no business with the government. But Dame has become a co-ruler with her husband. Through Bab’s work I understand that Cherrie Blair was a tenant, precisely at No.11 Downing Street. She never lived in the government house, even as the prime minister’s wife; she was also a top barrister and kept her job throughout her husband’s reign. But what do we have here in comparison: Mrs. Jonathan was a civil servant in Bayelsa but hurried to Aso Rock soon as her husband became president; and since then have lived and continued to live at the expense of the Nigerian people. My case is simple: to tame Mrs. Dame Patience Jonathan for the good of the nation. God bless Nigeria!