Reasons I Will Never Accept the Opportunity to Return as First Lady of Nigeria__Patience Jonathan
Patience Jonathan, wife of former President Goodluck Jonathan, has stated that she would never agree to return to Aso Rock Villa.Â
Her husband, Goodluck Jonathan, served as Nigeria’s president from 2010 to 2015. Prior to his presidency, Jonathan was the vice president under the late President Umaru Yar’adua. Jonathan stepped in as acting president when Yar’adua fell ill and fully assumed the presidency after Yar’adua’s death in 2010. However, he lost his reelection bid to Muhammadu Buhari in 2015.
At an event in Abuja marking the 60th anniversary of the Nigerian Institute of Public Relations (NIPR), Mrs. Jonathan reflected on her time as the first lady. She remarked, “The stress of Nigeria is too much. I won’t go there if you call me now for the Villa. I won’t. Don’t you see how young I am looking? The stress is so much.”
She continued, “If God manages to bring you out of it, you should glorify God and thank him. It is the Lord’s doing, and it is marvellous in our eyes. He took you there once, so why do you want to go there again? I won’t go.”
Regarding her husband’s defeat in the 2015 election, Mrs. Jonathan recounted encouraging him to accept the outcome gracefully. There were speculations that Mr. Jonathan might not leave office even if he lost, but Mrs. Jonathan clarified that he never considered that path. Instead, he conceded defeat to Buhari without resistance.
“When we failed the election, we were together in the room when we were told we had lost. I did not whisper to him that we must stay because we would shed blood. Innocent people would die, and we didn’t know who would die. It might be me, it might be you or my brother and sisters. We didn’t need anybody to die,” she explained.
Goodluck Jonathan completed Yar’adua’s term and won his own four-year term in 2011 but lost his reelection bid in 2015 to Buhari.
