Controversy trails Patience Jonathan’s appointment as Perm Sec

Posted by admin Bayelsa, First Ladies, Headlines, Patience Jonathan, State News Thursday, July 12th, 2012

By Emmanuel Aziken, Political Editor Samuel Oyadongha & Dapo Akinrefon

LAGOS—Reactions have continued to trail the appointment of the First Lady, Mrs. Patience Jonathan, as a Permanent Secretary in Bayelsa State Civil Service.

While Action Congress of Nigeria, ACN, described the appointment as sycophancy carried too far, Congress for Progressive Change, CPC, argued that with the development, no one could be shocked with any inanity from Peoples Democracy Party, PDP-led Federal Government.

Civil Liberties Organisation, CLO, in Bayelsa State, said the appointment was a slap on the people of the state, and challenged the state government to disclose the work that Mrs. Jonathan had done to warrant the appointment.

Mr. Yinka Odumakin, spokesman of Save Nigeria Group, SNG, described it as the height of absurdity.

He said: “It is absurd. It is also trivialisation of governance for a governor to appoint the First Lady of a country as a Permanent Secretary. It is the height of idiocy.

* Dame Patience Jonathan

“This is part of the nonsense that the Jonathan presidency has brought to our nation and we have reached a sorry state where anything goes,” CPC National Publicity Secretary, Rotimi Fashikin, said, yesterday.

CPC spokesman said there was nothing that the administration would do that would surprise the party anymore, saying it was the height of impunity.

ACN National Publicity Secretary, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, said: “This is sycophancy carried too far.”

In a statement, CLO’s spokesman, Mr Alagoa Morris, described the appointment as unacceptable and urged the governor to rescind the decision.

He said: “The news of the appointment of Nigeria’s First Lady, Mrs. Patience Jonathan, was received with disbelief and shock. Ordinarily, there wouldn’t have been anything wrong with Mr. President’s wife being appointed a Permanent Secretary in any state of her origin or by marriage; as is the Bayelsa scenario.

“While those who are claiming that Mrs. Patience Jonathan had been a civil servant in the state may be right, most Bayelsans are just hearing this for the first time.

”Following her appointment as Permanent Secretary, the questions begging for answers from concerned Bayelsans are; was she on secondment or leave of absence all these years?

“Has her name been featuring in the payroll of the Bayelsa State Government? Has she been part of the several staff audits that had taken place since, including the biometrics conducted by the office of Due Process and e-Governance Bureau during Sylva’s administration? Bayelsans would want to know because Mrs.Patence Jonathan must not be allowed to eat her cake and have it. Again, has she been going to work as a state civil servant?

“These questions are very important because we know that when General Abdusalami Abubakar was Head of State, his wife was working before then. When Dr. Peter Odili was governor of Rivers State, his wife, Justice Mary Odili, was working. So, where was Patience Jonathan working when her husband was deputy governor?.”

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