The recent visit of Dame Patience Jonathan, the wife of the President of Nigeria, Dr. Goodluck Jonathan to Rivers State may have come and gone, but the ripples it left behind will remain in the state and with the people for a very long time to come.
The visit which took place recently lasted for eleven days.
While some people saw the visit as an informal one, others described it as strictly political, meant to kick start the 2015 campaign for her husband’s second term bid as President of Nigeria.
The visit was also said to have been used to source for a replacement for Governor Chibuike Amaechi of Rivers State, perceived to be against the President’s planned second tenure.
To lend redence to the claim, the first lady during the tour openly castigated Amaechi and heaped praises on his opponent, Nyesom Wike, the Minister of State for Education.
Dame Patience was quoted as saying that Port Harcourt under Amaechi has lost its Garden City status, which she said was made possible by his predecessors.
Whether the former or later assessors of the First Lady’s visit were correct or wrong remains a matter of perception. What should bother the people of Rivers State and indeed right thinking persons is the torture the celebrated visit of Dame Patience exposed them to during those eleven harrowing days.
We reliably gathered that people or neighbours around the area where the first lady was lodged were barred from their houses for that number of days the visit lasted.
And as if that was not enough, all the major roads and streets around Port Harcourt metropolis were barricaded, with human and vehicular movement highly restricted.
Even journalists who were doing their lawful duties were obstructed from going about their duties during the unpopular visit of the first lady.
We equally gathered that vehicle sent to convene the first lady from the Airport by governor Amaechi was turned down by the visiting first lady, including state governments official accommodation booked for her.
The visit was also used to familiarize with Chiefs and stakeholders in PDP believed to be in support of the President’s second turn agenda. For instance, HRM Eze Omunakwe Nsirim, the father of the suspended chairman of Obio/Akpor was visited by first lady, the incident that has generated so much fuss to the extent that the governor was suspended from the ruling PDP, for his refusal to rescind his decision on the Obio/Akpor saga.
While we may not want to pitch tent with any of the parties, we do not hesitate to state categorically that the visit of the first lady actually inflicted untold hardship on the masses, otherwise how would you reconcile a situation where people for no just cause were barred from their houses because of the first lady’s visit.
It is unfair to expose innocent citizens of a country to such torture in this 21st century, even during colonial rule, not to talk of an independent country like Nigeria that touts to be the giant of Africa and home of the rule of law.
We suggest that and are of the view that under no account should the people of any state be exposed to such assault for whatever reason.
There are better ways of ensuring security of a visiting political office holder, be it president or his wife, than resorting to such primitive approach, which only ended up punishing the people that should have been happy for the wife of the Presidents’ visit. Such practice has also ridiculed Nigerian in the eyes of the international community.
Our emphasis is not actually to spite the security operatives, but to compel them to do the right thing always. Afterall Nigeria has come of age as a nation. ###
