The moving testimonies of the President’s wife, First Lady Patience Jonathan on how she survived nine surgeries in one month deeply touched me. I almost shed tears when I read the testimony that her friends were selling off her goods thinking that she will not return. I felt embarrassed as a citizen of this country because I have come to realize that Nigerian leaders see their people as their number one enemies. This is regrettable and embarrassing.
In the days of late President Yar’Adua, we saw this attitude of our leaders displayed to an abysmal level. For close to six months, Nigerian people including the Vice President, Goodluck Jonathan then did not know what was wrong with the President or his where about. Liars and demons very close to President Yar’Adua kept sealed lips while forging his signature to rob the nation of billions. The pathological liars, petty thieves and armed robbers in the presidency kept the President’s illness secret until they stole enough money for themselves, their wives, their concubines, their children and generations yet unborn. When they had satisfied themselves with the loot they announced that President Yar’Adua has passed on. The rest is now history!
President Jonathan and these shenanigans in the presidency would have learnt sufficient lessons of history from the late President Yar’Adua handlers and came out clean to state the real position of things. But they did not. They have seen nothing and learnt nothing. They are same of the same. They are birds of identical plumage. They are the same liars from the pit of hell. Our leaders cannot learn. This is a shame!
That our First lady suffered nine surgeries in one month without the knowledge of Nigerians shows the level of our naivety and mediocrity. It shows how far we have degenerated as a people. That these mad leaders denied us the opportunity of praying for the first lady and wishing her quick recovery shows the level of idiocy in our leaders. Come to think of it we are all humans. Anybody can be sick including the President and his wife. We can catch cold, cancer, diabetes, HIV Aids, Parkinson’s disease, renal failure etc. This is normal. For the fact that you are the President is not a guarantee that you are a super human and therefore cannot be sick. We are all mere mortals, who can be sick or die anytime, anywhere.
The world knows that President Yugo Chavez of Venezuela is suffering from cancer. It is also true that the good people of Venezuela get day to day information about their President’s state of health and they have been praying for him. But Nigeria is not Venezuela. Nigeria is a country where leaders see the people they govern as their enemies. This must stop.
I pray to God Almighty never to allow the first lady, Dame Patience Jonathan to go back to the hospital for another surgery. I want her to be permanently healed.
Joe Igbokwe
Lagos