Outrage Over Appoinment Of Patience Jonathan As Permanent Secretary In Bayelsa State

Nigerians from different walks of life have condemned, in strong terms, the appointment of the wife of President Goodluck Jonathan as Permanent Secretary by Governor Seriake Dickson of Bayelsa State.

Governor Seriake Dickson had appointed Dame Patience Jonathan as one of the 17 new Permanent Secretaries in the state civil service.

Patience Jonathan, according to a statement from the Office of the Head of Service, Mrs. Gloria Izonfo, last week Wednesday, was appointed alongside 16 senior civil servants. The statement was read on the state radio.

“By the constitutional power conferred on the state governor, Hon. Seriake Dickson, in section 203 sub-section 2c, Dame Patience Jonathan and seventeen others have been elevated to the position of Permanent Secretary in the state civil service,” Izonfo said.

Reacting to the announcement made last week some online publications reasoned that this is another surprise that can only happen in Nigeria, and expressed misgivings and disappointment over the development.

Patience Jonathan, a native of Okrika in Rivers State, had served in the Rivers and Bayelsa states civil services before her husband's election as deputy governor. However, our reporter couldn't confirm if she had been due for appointment as permanent secretary before her husband's first election.

The wife of the President has a National Certificate of Education in Mathematics/Biology, which she obtained in 1989 from the Rivers State College of Education. She also has a degree in Biology and Psychology (Education) from the University of Port Harcourt, Rivers State.

According to observers, it is wrong for Governor Dickson to appoint the nation's First Lady as a Permanent Secretary in a state; they insisted that this is a kind of demotion for her.

Another respondent stated that the appointment simply shows that GEJ, as the President is fondly called, has no intention of staying beyond 2015, and Patience knows this too well and she is planning to remain relevant in Bayelsa after 2015.

Sources, who spoke with First Weekly, wondered how someone, who was just a teacher, rose to become a Permanent Secretary, when she was not even a principal, and that the whole development shows how cheap we have become as a nation.

Sources also wondered how the First Lady would relate with the commissioner of the ministry or the Governor of the state, when she is the wife of the President, adding that Nigeria is a nation where anything goes.

The move was punctured by another source, who said it is only in Nigeria that a First Lady would get an appointment under a state Governor. 'In a civilized world, she could get an 'honorary key' to the city, but in animal kingdom, under a zoologist, anything can happen,” he said.

While a source said that Patience rose through the ranks as a civil servant first in Rivers State, and later in Bayelsa State and should have been promoted when her husband was Deputy Governor and later Governor, another worried politician said Nigeria has made a big mistake by voting for President Goodluck Jonathan.

He maintained that it is nothing but pure eye service, and that it is senseless, unthinkable and stupid of the Governor.

Patience was described as a visiting First Lady by some of those who spoke to First Weekly Magazine, who said that this is the first time such a thing would be happening in the country.

They accused President Goodluck Jonathan of being behind the whole drama all in a bid to ensure his family takes all in this political dispensation.

“Very soon, the woman would contest as Governor and after that she would be made a Senator or member of the Federal House of Representatives and then, they would position all their family members because they want to take all and entrench themselves in power for life. It is now clear that Jonathan does not have a mind of his own and he is being ruled by his wife, who is probably the real President of the country,” said Mr. Adetunji, a Lagos-based lawyer and analyst.

He added that Governor Seriake Dickson is just seeking political immunity against EFCC after his tenure. 'He doesn't want to go the route of Silva (the former governor),' he said.

Some sources who spoke to First Weekly also said that the appointment is unconstitutional, and that the nation has become a banana republic, where anything goes.

July 17, 2012