Patience is a Mere Domestic Appendage-Soyinka

The wife of President Goodluck Jonathan, Patience, has been accused of getting away with murder in the country and of being used as a political tool, with the tacit support of her husband.

Making this allegation Thursday during an international press conference on the state of the nation, Nigeria’s Nobel laureate, Professor Wole Soyinka, who alongside human rights lawyer, Mr. Femi Falana (SAN), pointedly identified the first lady as being neck deep in the political crisis in Rivers State, added that her “seizure of Port Harcourt for 11 days with full security apparatus in tow, indicated that there is something about that madam herself.”

 

JONATHAN AND WIFE

Falana and Soyinka condemned the crisis that had engulfed the Rivers State House of Assembly, when five out the 32 lawmakers attempted to impeach the speaker, Hon. Otelemaba Amachree.

Soyinka described the entire scenario as reflective of meddlesomeness and decried Mrs. Jonathan’s involvement in the crisis in the state, pointing out that she has no constitutional role in the country.

“This is getting to a state where an unelected person, a mere domestic appendage, can seize control of a place for 11 days and as a result of her presence, the governor of that state was told by policemen that you cannot pass here because the queen was there. What sort of jungle are we living in?

“A person with no constitutional position is able to enjoy the full security apparatus of the state which is being denied a governor,” he said.

He said his advice for the first lady was to be a lady before being a “first lady”.

“My worry for her is that she should be a lady first before being a first lady. You cannot be a first lady without first being a lady. That is the only advice I have for her,” he said.

Soyinka, who also accused the president of involvement in the political crisis in Rivers State, warned that if anything happened to the state Governor, Chibuike Amaechi, the blame would be put on the president’s door step.

“Vicarious responsibility must be laid at the door of President Jonathan if anything happens to Governor Amaechi. Ultimately, the responsibility is the president’s,” he said.