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| Patience Jonathan |
There are a lot of things Nigerians don't know about their first lady, Patience Jonathan. i want you to seat back as you read 25 interesting things you never knew about the first Lady of Nigeria, Patience Jonathan.
HER FULL NAME (plus including her title)
She is Dr. Dame Chief (Mrs). Patience Fakabelema Jonathan
(nee Oba). Her middle name is FAKABELEMA, often shortened to Faka, meaning
‘Unending Blessings’. Abiyamo is giving special thanks to George Desmond Iyo of
Okrika for his thorough explanation of her roots and name. She is the President
of the African First Ladies Peace Mission, and that is why I like calling her
the Dame of Africa.
SHE IS OLDER THAN THE PRESIDENT
Okay, calm down, not what you are thinking. Dame Patience
Jonathan was born in Port Harcourt on the 25th October 1957 while the don
himself was born on 20th November, 1957. Ok, just like a month. By the way,
what that means is that her birthday is fast approaching as she will be turning
56 this month.
Geneva, 10 May, 2013, at the International Telecommunication
Union (ITU).
WHY IS SHE CALLED A DAME?
Patience Jonathan bears the title ‘Dame’ because she was
honoured with the Knighthood of the Anglican Church.
HER HOBBIES
Her hobbies? You bet! Reading, writing, travelling and oh
yeah, swimming!
HER EDUCATION
She holds a National Certificate of Education (NCE) in
Mathematics & Biology from the Rivers State College of Education and later
bagged a degree from University of Port Harcourt (UNIPORT) in Biology &
Psychology. She passed WASSCE in 1980, long before many of her haters (you sabi
yourselves na…lol!) were born. Ok, no lele. Let’s ride on.
HER CHILDREN
Patience Jonathan’s marriage with the President is blessed
with two children: a cheeky boy, Ariwera Adolphus Jonathan and a beautiful
girl, Aruabi Jonathan. (Please don’t ask me that question #rollsEyes).
YES, SHE STILL COOKS FOR MR. PRESIDENT
She says she still cooks for her husband and even goes to
Utako Market (Abuja people, wey una dey?) to buy ingredients for soup. O ga ju!
With all that hectic schedule (especially considering the fact that she is also
a Permanent Secretary in Bayelsa State. Patience Jonathan was appointed a Perm
Sec after 13 years of leave at the Bayelsa State Ministry of Education)!
WHEN THE PRESIDENT MET HER, IT WAS LOVE AT FIRST SIGHT
Love on the Rock! I mean Aso Rock :D
Miss Oba later met her lecturer while she was a student at
the Rivers State College of Education (now Rivers State University of
Education, Rumuolumeni). Her lecturer then was with the Department of
Biological Sciences (he taught her biology, oh, I love that course die! Don’t
ask me why!), and one thing led to the other, they both fell in love. Today,
the rest is history and that Mr. Lecturer of yesterday now rules the most
populous black nation on earth. You still don’t know him? Go get yourself a
black fedora hat! Hear her:
”We first met at the Rivers State College of Education, Port
Harcourt where I was a student. He was my Biology lecturer.Later; he left for
university of Port Harcourt to pursue his PhD.
We met again at the University of Port Harcourt when I went
for undergraduate degree. That was where our relationship began. He took
interest in me because I was a brilliant and smart student.
It was love at first sight on his part. But it never crossed
my mind that it would lead to a serious relationship. My first impression of
him was ‘this tall, dark, handsome young man”.
Further interaction with him also revealed that he came from
a good Christian home just like I did. His humble and gentle disposition caught
my attention and most importantly, his intelligence.”
SHE HOLDS COUNTLESS HONORARY DEGREES AND TITLES
She holds many traditional titles, some of which are:
-Odadigba of Otuoke Kingdom, meaning the Ladder of Success.
-Unume Wheshi Ekpeye 1 of Ekpeye Kingdom in Rivers State.
-Yeye Obateru of Owu Kingdom, Ogun State, means the Wife of
He Who Shares the King’s Burden.
-Yeye Ohun Orun of the Source of Ife Kingdom, Osun State,
meaning the Wife of the Voice of the Heavens.
The Yorubas will say orun jiwin jiwin ileke, meaning a royal
neck full of jingling beads.
Receiving her fourth doctorate
degree in South Korea.
-Staff of Office, Okpahgwe
Amawbia, Anambra State.
-Ada Di Oha Mma of Ukpo Kingdom
(Daughter of the People of Ukpo).
-Honorary doctorate degree in
Social Welfare Administration, Hansei University, South Korea: According to the
organizers of the event, Dame Jonathan was given the award because she had
worked ‘hard for many good causes. ‘Professor Sung-Hae Kim, the President and
Chancellor of the university also went on to say:
“She’s a humanitarian who has
dedicated her life to working for the less privileged in Nigeria and Africa
especially for women and children. Her vision as the defender of the poor in
Nigeria fits into Hansei University’s motto of a practising Christian. Now
she’s part of our community. ”
Dame said at the event:
”I’m really delighted at this
honour. This is the fourth doctorate conferred on me and I’m encouraged to do
more. I also urge everyone that it is not when you have millions that you can
reach out to the needy.”
Okay, I think that is enough for
now. Nigerians with grandiose and grandiloquent titles sha. Or let me say
Africans because the late Mobutu of Zaire was referred to as Mobutu Sese-Seko
Kuku Ngbendu Wa Za Banga! Let’s move on.
HER MAIDEN NAME IS OBA
Yes, she was once Miss Patience
Oba. She was born into the family of Chief Lazarus Iwari-Oba but she lost her
own mother at a tender age. She was later raised by her step-mother, Charity
Oba also known as Mama Sisi, who died in July 2013 in a road accident along the
East-West road between Bayelsa and Rivers State.
SHE WAS ONCE AWARDED A UNIVERSITY
HONORARY DEGREE EVEN WHILE AWAY IN GERMANY ON HOSPITAL BED
In September 2012, she was awarded
a honorary degree by the Delta State University, Abraka despite the fact that
she was not in the country at that time. She was said to have gone to Germany
but she denied going there for any treatment. Even the President denied it only
for them to own up later and throw a splendid Thanksgiving in Aso Rock. Worefa.
SHE WAS ONCE INTO BANKING
Although she started out as a
teacher at Stella Maris College in Port Harcourt (HajMari, where are you o?),
she later veered briefly into the banking sector, establishing Akpo Community
Bank in 1997, the first of its kind in Port Harcourt, and later served as the
Marketing Manager of Imieto Community Bank.
HER HOMETOWN IS OKRIKA
She hails from Oba-Ama Community
in Okrika, a port town in Rivers State. It is known as a base for the sale of
second-hand clothes, and the name Okrika for those of us very familiar with
‘Bend Down Select’ and ‘Tokunbo’ clothes is an attestation to that. Omo, I can
never forget the delightful smell of Okrika clothes…lol! The belief then, and
even maybe now is that they are even better than ‘original’ and brand new
clothes. Next!
HER CHARITABLE WORKS
Like others before her, she also
has a non-governmental organization, named the A. Aruera Reachout Foundation
and is said to focus on the needy, the poor and the destitute, with particular
emphasis on women and children. According to the Foundation, it has trained
over 2,000 women in the last eight years. Some of the things her Foundation
also did was to foot the N1.8 million naira bill for an operation in India for
a girl with a hole in the heart (septal defect) and Jubril Mohammed Hussein, a
9-year-old boy who was also flown out for treatment for his heart disease.
Zainab Musa Garba, a twin, was diagnosed with a heart condition and needed N3
million naira for treatment, the Dame also footed her bills. Zainab’s mother
teaches at the Federal Government College, Maiduguri while the dad is a retired
civil servant. That’s a good one or what do you think? Same goes for Tobi
Peters, an 11-year-old boy, three-month-old Peculiar Owodu and others (now over
30 kids).
Well, I had to point that out
because Nigerians seem to be carried away by her speeches as if we are all
professors of English ourselves (the truth is that many Nigerians condemning
her are also guilty of either writing or speaking atrocious/criminal English or
both. The spelling and/or grammar of some of her critics provoke sheer horror).
By the way, I am assuming that her Foundation derived its name from her two
kids: ARU-abi and Ariw-ERA. At any rate, it’s an assumption.
HER FIGHT WITH TURAI YAR’ADUA OVER
LAND
In January 2013, she was engaged
in a tussle with the former First Lady, Turai Yar’adua over a plot of land in
the Federal Capital Territory. They dragged themselves to court and treated the
nation to an exciting drama. That’s what I call the vanity of power and inanity
of authority.
THE DAME-SOYINKA DEBACLE
Nigeria’s first and only Nobel
Laureate, Professor Wole Akinwande Soyinka (read all about him
here>>>http://www.abiyamo.com/wole-soyinka-nigerias-first-nobel-laureate/)
has on several occassions tackled the First Lady criticizing her actions
especially over how she closes entire streets while she is in town or the
Rotimi Amaechi case with the Presidency and telling her to be a ‘lady’ first
before being a ‘First Lady’. Trust the FL team na, they fired their own salvo
too. The two don’t just see eye-to-eye.
HER WARDROBE
The Nigerian First Lady is a power
dresser. She is always attractively dressed (even when the President is looking
morose). Whatever, she is an outstanding dresser. In one of the pictures below,
she is wearing a Swarovski-crystal gown while in another one the hat kinda
looks like a shot straight from the Pirates of the Carribbean.
At the burial of the President’s
brother in Otuoke, Bayelsa State.
At the Thank You/Peace/Advocacy
Visit in Lagos State. Her shimmering gown is full of Swarovski crystals. Now,
that is the definition of resplendent.
Tell me one reason why her fashion
designer must not be fired. Eh?
HER FAMOUS WORDS
Okay, Abiyamo has specially selected these quotations for
you. I am sorry I don’t have many of the so-called grammatical blunders of hers
(not that they do not exist) but because many of them were actually made up and
simply conjured but they have spread virally). Enjoy her words:
“I was just doing my own thing not knowing that in far away
Asia everything was being noted. I want to assure you all that with God’s help
I will do more. My grandma used to say: `Whatever little you have, share; If
you have a thousand and you can’t share, you won’t share a million if you
have’. -Dame Patience Jonathan while she was being honoured with a doctorate
degree in South Korea, October, 2013.
“I remember when Chief
Obasanjo was the President of the country, I was close to his late wife,
Stella. We worshiped together in this chapel. It was a painful moment for me
that time when she (Stella) died and her corpse was brought here.
“That was how my corpse would have been brought here. It was
not an easy experience for me. I actually died, I passed out for more than a
week. My intestine and tummy were opened.
“I am not Lazarus but my experience was similar to his. My
doctors said all hope was lost.
“A black doctor in London who is with us in this service was
flown in when the situation became critical. It was God himself in His infinite
mercy that said I will return to Nigeria. God woke me up after seven days.
“I know that some people somehow leaked the information that
I was dead. They are people that I trust
and rely on; to them, I was dead and I would never return to the country alive.
Some of them even sold my things off.
“I won’t say everything here. It is the Lord’s doing that I
returned alive. When God says yes, nobody can say no.
“People are always afraid of operation (surgery) but in my
own case, while my travail lasted, I was begging for it (surgery) after the
third operation because I was going to the theatre everyday.
“It was God who saw me through. I did eight or nine
operations within one month. It was not an easy one.
“The day I came back, I said God I have nothing to say, I
offer myself to you. I will be doing things that will touch the lives of the
less privileged. -18th February 2013, Vanguard.
THE RESURRECTION
In February 2013, at a reception/thanksgiving in her honour,
she stated that while away in Germany for medical treatment, she was operated
upon nine times in one month and it was a miracle that she survived and likened
her case to that of Lazarus in the Bible.
SHE WAS ONCE CALLED ‘MAMA ICE CREAM’
According to Baridah Job Karabah, a former houseboy, her
nickname back in the days was ‘Mama Ice Cream’ (and that of the President was
simply ‘Oga Joe’ ). Ice cream ke? Yes, and that was because she used to cool
(abi na freeze…lol) ice cream in her large deep freezers. The ice cream is then
later distributed for sale. He says business was ‘booming’ for her then.
President Jonathan was at that time, a senior lecturer at the Rivers State
College of Education. And yes, she had a poultry too at the same time. Quite
industrious I’d say. In December 2013, at the inauguration of the Subsidy
Reinvestment and Empowerment Programme Maternal and Child Health otherwise
known as MAMA Project, she stated that henceforth that her name would no longer
be Patience but Mama Peace.
SHE HAS HER OWN SEAL OF OFFICE
Yes, she has her own seal and she uses it during public
functions (see picture).
This action itself has generated some controversy and
criticism because the office of the First Lady as it is, is not recognized in
the Nigerian Constitution. Only the Commander-in-Chief (and others as
stipulate)is allowed to use a Presidential Seal on his lectern while speaking
in public. CLICK HERE TO READ VERY INTERESTING THINGS ABOUT THE NIGERIAN
PRESIDENCY>>>http://www.abiyamo.com/the-nigerian-presidency-things-you-must-know/
HER FRIENDS
The Dame is quite a sociable woman and she is usually seen
with her retinue or lemme say battalion, of friends.
With one of her ‘paddies’, the wife of the Benue State
Governor, Yemisi Suswam.
Hajia Bola Shagaya, one of the richest women in Africa and a
very good friend of the Dame. She also tours with the President regularly and
her face is a well-known one in the corridors of power.
With Hajia Amina Namadi Sambo, the wife of the Vice
President. Women for Peace and Empowerment | Rally | Abuja | Aug. 15, 2013
Some of her closest allies include the wife of the Vice
President, Hajia Amina Sambo (she calls her her ‘twin sister’), wealthy
businesswoman, Hajia Bola Shagaya (who has been friends to the Aso Rock for
decades since Maryam Babangida’s time), Helen Mark, wife of the Senate
President (she once referred to her as her ‘younger friend’), Yemisi Suswan,
the wife of the Governor of Benue State, many other state First Ladies, female
ministers and wives of military service chiefs.
SHE WAS ONCE REFERRED TO AS JESUS CHRIST
Irrespective of the opinion you hold of the Nigerian First
Lady, there are those who are absolutely in love with her and will do anything
to defend her and proclaim their loyalty. One of such people is Evans Bipi,
member representing Ogu Bolo State Constituency in the Rivers State House of
Assembly. In an interview, he stated:
Evans Bipi. He called the Dame his Jesus Christ. Wonderful.
Is that why you also call her your Jesus Christ on earth?
What is her role in your life?
People are misinterpreting this Jesus Christ on earth. Let
me say this. Man is God to man; it is in the Bible. You must not see God; you
will see God through somebody. God said, see me through Jesus Christ. That is
why we are seeing God through Jesus Christ. This woman (Patience Jonathan) is
everything in my life. She made me what I am today.
Are you talking about politics?
Politically and otherwise; I can say it anywhere. I can say
she is my Jesus Christ because she has made me who I am today. That is the
truth and I can defend that anywhere. Babangida’s wife was from Delta State.
Her people called her mummy. Yar’Adua’s wife is from Katsina, all the people
from Katsina call her mummy. Even Governor Rotimi Amaechi’s wife, the people
call her mummy. When a woman attains such level, everybody calls her mummy. It
is a form of respect to her. But to me, my mummy (Patience Jonathan) is special
because she brought me up to this level.
SHE HAS A BOISTEROUS MEDIA TEAM
Here,
Kcee, Nigerian musician and Limpopo crooner is receiving blessings of the First
Lady at a party at the Presidential Villa. Oya Limpopo!
In a nation of over 170 million people, you will do well to
shield yourself from criticism of many as the First Lady of the nation. Well,
she has a solid team in place and this team works under the ‘Office of the
First Lady’ and they are known for releasing statements and counter statements
on her behalf. However, there was one incident with her media team that really
made me laugh. It was when she disappeared and no one knew where she was. With
a lot of speculations all over, journalists placed a call to Ayo Osinlu, her
spokesperson and Special Media on Media to know where the First Lady, but you
know what his response was? He replied:
I don’t know. I don’t have any information on that. You
don’t expect me to call her and ask her, ‘when are you returning?’ Is she my
mate?
On that note, Abiyamo will like to tell you that Dame
Patience Jonathan, the First Lady of Nigeria is not your mate…lol!
Culled from Ladunliadi
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