New book chronicles her many fights, gaffes, troubles that alienated the North, made her husband look weak and ill-suited for the office of President.

IF all the people who worked for President Goodluck Jonathan were to be assessed for the roles they played prior to and during the last presidential election in 2015, his wife, Dame Patience, would certainly get a top prize for campaigning rigorously for her husband to emerge victorious. She did not only criss-cross the length and breadth of Nigeria mobilising women and men to vote for Jonathan, but also spoke aggressively to win their hearts to do the needful. However, a new book, “Against the Run of Play: How an incumbent President was defeated in Nigeria”, written by Segun Adeniyi, Editorial Board Chairman of Thisday Newspaper, which was unveiled in Lagos on Friday, faults the strident and deft roles played by the former First Lady, blaming her for unconsciously arming the opposition to defeat her husband.

Dame Patience Jonathan and Gen. Muhammadu Buhari According to Adeniyi, the President was hardly one year in office when the First Lady had an explosive encounter with the Speaker at the time, Aminu Waziri Tambuwal, and the then Rivers State Governor, Rotimi Amaechi. On a simmering note, Dame also had altercations with the then Senate President, David Mark and the Deputy Speaker of the House of Representatives, Emeka Ihedioha among others, over suspicion they were eyeing the Presidency.

Adeniyi quotes Dame Jonathan as telling Tambuwal: “You this Hausa boy, you want to bring down the government of my husband; you want to disgrace him out of power? Una no fit! God no go allow you.” As confirmed by David Mark, “Tambuwal and Ihedioha, who were actually working with him to promote the Jonathan Presidency, were seen as political enemies and in the war of attrition that ensued, the presidency unwittingly sowed the seeds of opposition in the National Assembly. Since the PDP was pushing Tambuwal away, the opposition began to embrace him”. “The problem arose because the first lady kept alleging that Tambuwal had presidential ambitions and for that reason, could not be relied upon to support her husband. “I guess she had the same fear about me even when she never said it to my face. She once accosted Senator Joy Emordi to say, ‘Joy, I hear you are the manager of David Mark Presidential Campaign Organisation’, which was a baseless accusation “I had to meet the President to clarify issues with him, So, I would say it was President Jonathan and his wife, who radicalised Tambuwal and turned him into a political foe,” Mark pointed out in the book. Recalling another potential political ally, which Dame Jonathan drove into the hands of the opposition and unconsciously helped to work against Jonathan, Adeniyi captured how the former first lady started attacking the then Rivers State Governor, Rotimi Amaechi, over land matters in Okrika, where she hails from, embarrassing the governor before her natives.

This was barely six months in August 2010 after Jonathan had been sworn in as President following the death of YarÁdua in February of that year. The author says, “In the course of a two-day visit to Rivers State, Dame Patience Jonathan engaged then Governor Amaechi in an open altercation in Okrika, her home town. The governor was explaining why there would be some demolitions in the town to make way for new schools proposed by the state Government when Dame snatched the microphone from him and shouted, “Listen, you must listen to me! “A clearly embarrassed Amaechi stood still while Dame Patience Jonathan railed at him, “I want you to get me clear.

Read More: http://bettergists.com/how-and-why-patience-aided-buharis-victory-in-2015-election/

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