By Omoba Kenneth Aigbegbele
Kenneth_aigbe@yahoo.com
I have restrained myself all these while from joining issues over the cacophony of disgruntled voices and carelessly write-ups from so many hatchet jobbers in our national newspapers but I am compelled to set the records straight by this rejoinder to Pius Adesanmi’s article on Thursday, August 9, 2012, in the Peoples Daily. Ordinarily, I would have kept quiet but if not replied, would send a wrong signal to the public who will be hood winked with every lie, hook and sinker. He portrayed the office of the First Lady in derogatory terms and with malicious intent. He wrote with his poisonous pen dripping with envy, venom and vitriol, with perverse thinking that he could destroy a reputation of transparency built over the years by dint of hard work and selflessness.
The deliberate lies concocted and insolent innuendoes in Pius Adesanmi’s piece smack of outright irresponsible mischief and also diminish his perceived intelligence as to the happenings in Nigeria and the office of the First Lady. Let it be known, that this rejoinder is to put pay to this grossly misinformed article deliberately orchestrated by traducers and enemies of the Nigerian people. I will dwell on the succinct truth in order to clear the minds of gullible readers.
Dame Jonathan is an apostle of women empowerment and an agent of change who has enhanced the journey started by previous first ladies into an era befitting the Nigerian woman. She has struggled relentlessly to empower the Nigeria woman through her various summits, programmes, enlightenment campaigns, sensitizations including making sure that women in politics in the country are constitutionally recognized as stakeholders and has canvassed on several fora that women should be given more opportunies to contribute to the development of the country. It is also to her credit that President Goodluck Jonathan affirmed and delivered the promise of 35 percent affirmative action for women in his administration, a journey that women have been striving to achieve in nearly two decades was achieved by the administration in less than a year. Dame Jonathan has continued to fight – on inspite of the daunting challenges facing Nigerian women which limits their access to a range of opportunities and these challenges includes high rates of poverty, unequal access to education, training, healthcare, inequality in economic structures, employment opportunities, marginalization within the political turf as well as the girl -child discrimination. She had given her word that with the support of Nigerians she intends to drastically reduce these challenges by pushing for the recognition of the office of the first lady and other issues of national importance.
From the days of Maryam Babangida’s *better life for rural women* to Mariam Abacha’s *family support programme*, from Stella Obasanjo’s *child care trust* to Hajia Turai Yar’Adua’s *women and youth* *empowerment foundation*and Titi-Abubakar’s *women trafficking* *and child labour eradication foundation,* to the present day (*women for change initiatives W4CI*) whose grand patron is Dame Jonathan, the struggle for women emancipation and empowerment is not an easy one and had revolved around the same theme for a mass movement of the female folks in the country. In spite of the initial challenges put in the way of the initiators, it has succeeded so far in advancing, galvanizing, enlightening and consolidating the involvement of women in the development of the country. A case in view is during the recent elections conducted from the local, state and presidential elections, the turnout of the women were enormous and encouraging. For the first time in the history of the country, the Nigerian women felt a sense of belonging and decided to take their fate in their own hands and the resultant effect is what we have today which greatest attribute goes to Dame Jonathan for touring from one state to another sensitizing women on the importance of being participative.
Gladly so, Patience Jonathan who is also by virtue of her position as the First lady, is the chairperson of the African First Ladies Peace Mission (AFLPM) which she took over from her predecessor, Hajia Turai Yar’Adua. For over 3 weeks now, the good family relationship between the First families, both the Jonathans and the Yar’Aduas had been in the public discourse, while the serene and enable political ties between the families has been over-shadowered by a mixture of intrigues, name callings and deliberate attempts to upset the hitherto smooth order of things. Seemingly, a product of sabotage, fifth columnists or political opposition and a combination of all the ripples to upset the apple cart, all emanating from the political schemes that has left Nigerians despondent and united in the belief that the rumpus are products of surreptitious moves to distract a good man at work: Dr. Ebele Goodluck Jonathan.
It is gratifying to note that the Goodluck and Yar’Adua families have jointly addressed the issue on the “land” and therefore affirm, for the umpteenth time, that the relationship between both families remain rock solid to the consternation of the evil forces at work. Though, the former minister of the FCT, Dr. Ibrahim Modibbo has also put pay to the issue and both families are working at a very cordial, peaceful and amicable way.
Adesanmi’s belief of saying the land won’t be used for the specific purpose in its self shows that he is a pessimist rather than an optimist who looks at the bad side of things and who is not used to civility in his everyday life. Even if you do not respect elders, or people who are above you, it is natural to respect the office they occupy instead of denigrating the office of the FCT minister, the office of the First lady and any other persons in your article. Always remember change is a constant thing and no matter what, the country is moving forward.
But for the records, since the history of the great country, names of our heroes past, present and future have been used as road signs, directions including naming monuments after them. The naming of the Maitama new extension is not a new innovation to please the president but an old order of naming places after leaders of this nation and so there is nothing so different from what the FCT minister has done from his predecessors, it’s merely official and in the right stead.
Let me also use this medium to address the issue of the case of sublet/sponsorship by Coscharis to (AFLPM), which is an agreement between two organizations, one being the organizer and the other, the sponsor of the event. In an event of this nature, it is agreed by both parties that after the end of the event, the cars will be repossessed to be sold to Nigerians at a reduced rate as used cars from the event just like CHOGM.
There was no way that the office of the First Lady can afford such expensive cars when there is no funds/budget attached to the office of (AFLPM) which is mainly a volunteer organization from first Ladies across Africa coming together to chart a course for the common good. What we have in Nigeria is a situation where people sit down and look for any means to blackmail, falsify information or leak information to the press without been verifying first or without looking at the authenticity of the story.
It is also gratifying that the sponsors (Coscharis) had also denied the story thrown to the public domain by the enemies of peace and stability.
The problem with people like Adesanmi and their likes is the failure to tell their masters the bitter truth thereby giving them the impression that all is well. In the office of the First Lady, there is no master -servant relationship but they all work as brothers and sisters and call each other by their first names.
It is hard to find the rich and powerful making sincere intercession for the poor. The privileged sits behind barriers and associate with only a select few; but Dame Jonathan is classless and does not believe in the social strata. She sees herself more of the average Nigerian woman, who accords respect to her husband, family members and the larger society. One needs to interact with the first lady to know where she is coming from instead of casting aspersions where there is none. The First lady is determined to see through her visions in spite of all the challenges put on her way to improve the lot of Nigerian women and she has refocused her energy to use her office for the common good of all.