FIRST LADY: I WON’T DESCEND TO AMAECHI’S LEVEL

Patience Jonathan, Nigeria’s first lady, says she will not trade insults with Rotimi Amaechi, governor of Rivers state, who, in any case, is “planning to hand over to a crook”. Instead, she is urging the people of the state to support Nyesom Wike, gubernatorial candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in the state. She said Amaechi was only enjoying a stolen mandate because the people never voted for him. Mrs. Jonathan was speaking on Wednesday during the rally of PDP women in Port Harcourt. “Rivers people voted for PDP and it was Celestine Omehia that stood on the platform of PDP. But along the line, they stole our mandate and have been using it for propaganda,” she said. “All along, a man that stole our mandate has been telling us ‘I will, I will’ when he can do nothing.

FIRST LADY’S OFFICE UNBUDGETED FOR – DAME JONATHAN

First Lady, Dame Patience Jonathan yesterday declared that there has never been any budget from the national coffers for her office and her activities since her husband assumed office.
She took a swipe at her critics and those opposed to her office, challenging them to be courageous enough to set up a probe to unearth any form of corruption involving and activities of her office, if any.
Dame Jonathan stated this while addressing thousands of Edo women and supporters of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, organised by her NGO, Women for Change Development Initiative, as part of moves to garner support for President Jonathan ahead of the March 28 election held at the Samuel Ogbemudia Stadium in Benin City, the state capital.

A 72 YEAR OLD MAN HAS NOTHING TO OFFER NIGERIANS – DAME JONATHAN

The First Lady of Nigeria, Dame Patience Jonathan yesterday stated that her husband, President Goodluck Jonathan deserved the support of women in the country because he had delivered on the promises he made to Nigerian women in 2011.
She spoke during the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, Women Campaign Rally held in Makurdi, the statecapital.
Dame Jonathan said, “today pregnant women enjoy free antenatal care, we have realized our 35 percent affirmative action and more women are beginning to realize their potentials under this administration.

PDP DON’T TELL YOU ABOUT CHANGE BECAUSE WE AREN’T BUS CONDUCTORS THAT ASK FOR CHANGE – FIRST LADY

OREROKPE—The First Lady, Dame Patience Jonathan, has charged women in the country to vote for the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, stressing that any woman who votes for All Progressives Congress, APC, is an enemy of herself.
Dame Jonathan, at Orerokpe, Okpe Local Government Area of Delta State, at the PDP Women for Change Initiative Presidential Rally in the state, while applauding the benevolence of the PDP administration to women in the country, cited the Youth Enterprise With Innovation in Nigeria, YouWin and Subsidy Reinvestment and Empowerment Programme, SUREP, as some of the empowerment programmes the President Jonathan administration was using to empower women and youths in the country.

CATHOLIC WOMEN DECORATE FIRST LADY AS ‘MOTHER THERESA OF TODAY’

Abuja – The First Lady, Dame Patience Jonathan was on Wednesday decorated as “Mother Theresa of Today’’ by the Ladies of St. Mulumba (LSM) of the Catholic Church of Nigeria.
Jonathan was decorated because of the humanitarian works done through her pet project, the Women for Change and Development Initiative (W4CDI).
Chief Ngor Nwachukwu, the President of LSM, decorated the her when she led its members on a courtesy visit to the first lady at the Presidential Villa in Abuja.
“W4CDI has recorded positive changes in the society; there is a strong wind of change blowing off poverty, disease, hunger.
“And bringing along empowerment and sustaining hope for women in particular and to all in general.”
Nwachukwu, who also commended the first lady for her support to the president, described her role as a “family model’’ in line with the advocacy of Pope Francis.
In her remark, Jonathan commended them for their visit, saying it was a sign of solidarity and support, especially for the transformation agenda of President Goodluck Jonathan.
She also thanked the group for its acknowledgment of her “modest contributions to the society with this decoration as Mother Theresa of Today.

PATIENCE EXPRESSES CONCERN OVER DELAY IN CHIBOK GIRLS’ RESCUE

The wife of President Goodluck Jonathan, Patience, has expressed concern over the prolonged delay in the release of the abducted Chibok girls by members of the Boko Haram sect.
Jonathan expressed the concern when she met with the Nigerian community on Wednesday in Windhoek, Namibia.
Mrs. Jonathan was in Namibia to attend the 8th Stop Cervical, Breast and Prostate Cancer in Africa, an initiative of the African First Ladies/ Spouses Forum.
She empathised with family members of the girls and the entire Chibok community, saying that soon the girls would be released.

FIRST LADY FOR ANOTHER MEDICAL CHECK-UP IN GERMANY

First Lady, Dame Patience Jonathan, may have travelled to Germany for a fresh medical check-up.
According to a competent source, Mrs. Jonathan may have gone to Germany where she is expected to undergo medical examination at St Joseph Hospital, Wiesbadan.
Although details of the expected medical examinations were not clear is at press time, a source revealed that it is a follow-up to the series of operations the First Lady had in 2013.
According to the source, ‘as I speak to you, the First Lady will leave for Germany and will be taken to St Joseph Hospital in Wiesbadan. Already, embassy officials in Germany are busy and the Presidency is trying to ensure that this trip does not go viral, like the last one. Drivers and security details are on standby to receive her in Germany.
“I cannot tell you for sure how soon the First Lady will return. The doctors will decide that.”

CHIBOK: HOW DAME PATIENCE QUIZZED BORNO OFFICIALS

.‘We Felt Humiliated’
In what appeared like a melodramatic twist to the Chibok schoolgirls’ abduction saga that has gripped Nigeria and, indeed, the whole world since April 14, First Lady Dame Patience Jonathan enters the scene in a manner that has left not a few Nigerians raising questions over the real motive behind her intervention role in the rescue mission.
In her bid to investigate the abduction saga, Dame Patience Jonathan held two separate meetings with stakeholders last week, the majority of who were leaders and members of various women’s groups in the country. Ironically, what came out of the meetings left many tongues wagging as many Nigerians eventually perceived that the First Lady’s purported effort to get to the root of the matter was nothing short of tampering a ‘national tragedy’ with a comic performance in the theatre of the absurd.

CHIBOK GIRLS: DAME JONATHAN TACKLES PROTESTERS; THE REAL STORY

• How deputy director impersonated missing girl’s mother 
• Expose on role of GGSS principal, WAEC, BOSG in abduction saga
Facts have emerged regarding the circumstances surrounding the arrest of the leader of the Bring Back our Girls’ protest whose name is Naomi.
She had last week led about 500 women on a protest to the National Assembly over the reported abduction of over 200 secondary school girls in Chibok, Borno State.
In a meeting of stakeholders that lasted for over 8 hours from Sunday night till the wee hours of Monday, First Lady, Dame Patience Jonathan had actually asked the Commissioner of Police to take the woman to the Inspector General of Police and the President based on the fact that she was found to have impersonated one of the Chibok women, whose child is said to be missing.

FIRST LADY DID NOT ORDER ARREST OF MURIAH – MEDIA AIDE

Abuja – The Media Assistant to the First Lady, Mr Ayo Adewuyi, on Monday said that Dame Patience Jonathan did not ordered arrest of the alleged impersonator, Naomi Muriah.
Adewuyi, in a statement in Abuja on Monday, said the attention of the president’s wife’s had been drawn to reports that she ordered the arrest of Muriah.
He said Muriah attended the women stakeholders’ meeting convened to discuss ways and best strategies to ensure the release of the abducted children of Chibok Girls secondary School.

I WILL LEAD PROTEST TO CHIBOK, SAYS PATIENCE JONATHAN

The first lady, Dame Patience Jonathan, has promised to stage a protest march to Chibok, Borno State, if the abducted schoolgirls were not released.
Jonathan said this in Abuja after a meeting with governors’ and ministers’ wives, female senators, commissioners and more than 200 women from various groups at the State House in Abuja.
The meeting was to seek the actual whereabouts of the kidnapped girls.
According to her, a committee will be inaugurated to include wives of all relevant stakeholders at a meeting scheduled for May 4.
She said that refusal of any of such relevant stakeholders to be contacted for the meeting would also lead to a mass protest.
“I cannot perpetuate hearsay and rumour; I must have facts to tell the international community.

2015: PATIENCE JONATHAN PLANS TO INSTALL 3 GOVS

First lady Patience Jonathan is set to play the godmother of governors in at least three states: Bauchi, Bayelsa and Rivers. Sources confided in LEADERSHIP at the weekend that the wife of the president has positioned her favourites to clinch the tickets of the ruling Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in the states ahead of the 2015 election. That of Bayelsa, however, is scheduled for 2016.
In Rivers State, Mrs Jonathan is said to be working to ensure that the governorship candidate of the PDP emerged from one of the riverine local government areas of the state, possibly Okrika.
By implication, the supervising minister for education, Nyesom Wike, who had had a running battle with Governor Rotimi Amaechi, apparently in the hope of getting the party’s ticket for 2015, may well consider himself out of the race.
A highly placed source in the know of the calculations told LEADERSHIP that the president’s wife has not hidden her desire to have a riverine person govern the state for the first time.

PATIENCE JONATHAN FLOWN ABROAD FOR TREATMENT –REPORT

Wife of President Goodluck Jonathan, Patience Jonathan, may have embarked on another medical trip to Germany.
A report by an online news portal, Sahara Reporters, on Saturday quoted two presidential sources as saying the First Lady was flown out of the country discreetly.
One source, the medium claimed, disclosed that Mrs. Jonathan had kept a low profile several weeks before her movement to a German hospital.
“She has not been in good health for a while now,” a source close to the Jonathan family reportedly said.
After a medical trip in 2013, which her spokesman denied, Patience later returned to the country to admit that she went to a German hospital for treatment.
The agency also quoted another source as saying, “Nigerians are paying for her treatment and deserve the courtesy of being informed about her movement.”
The Presidency, however, denied the report.

INTIMATE FACTS ABOUT FIRST LADY PATIENCE JONATHAN

* It was love @ first sight with Mr. President!
She is Dame Patience Fakabelema Jonathan (nee Oba). Her middle name is Fakabelema, often shortened to Faka, meaning ‘Unending Blessings’. As Chairperson of the African First Ladies Peace Mission, she is often referred to as the ‘Dame of Africa’.
DOB: Dame Patience was born in Port Harcourt on October 25, 1957 while the don who later became President was born nearly a month later, precisely November 20, 1957.
Title: Patience Jonathan bears the title ‘Dame’ because she was honoured with the Knighthood of the Anglican Church.
Hobbies: They include reading, writing, travelling and swimming.
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 the University of Port Harcourt (UNIPORT) in Biology & Psychology.
Family. Her marriage with the President is blessed with two children: a boy, Ariwera Adolphus and a girl, Aruabi.

FIRST LADY THREATENS PDP GOVERNORS OVER TUKUR

The First Lady, Mrs. Patience Jonathan has continued to meddle in the affairs of the ruling Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), as it has emerged that she has been haranguing the party's governors into sparing the embattled National Chairman of the PDP, Alhaji Bamanga Tukur.
Tukur has been blamed for much of the crises that have bedevilled the party, leading to calls for his removal by the governors.
His removal was also one of the key demands of the seven aggrieved governors of the party, five of whom have defected to the All Progressives Congress (APC).
Their departure notwithstanding, the remaining governors of PDP have continued to push for his ouster on the grounds that it would usher peace and reconciliation in the party.
However, in the bid to stop his removal, the first lady, THISDAY learnt, has in recent days been summoning the governors of the party and mounting pressure on them to drop the idea of Tukur's sack.

MY NAME IS NO MORE PATIENCE BUT NOW MAMA PEACE- FIRST LADY

Nigeria's First Lady and Wife of the President, Patience Jonathan on Friday declared that she now wishes to be named Mama Peace instead of Patience.
The change of name, she noted is following her decision to henceforth preach peace to bring an end to militancy and terrorists activities in the country.
This is even as she has disclosed that her Non-Governmental Organisation, Women for Change Initiative has signed a Memorandum of Understand (MOU) with some international hospitals to build, equip and manage one of the best hospitals for women and children in Africa.
Mrs. Jonathan who made the disclosure while speaking at the formal launch of the Subsidy Reinvestment and Empowerment Programme (SURE P) of Maternal and Child Health Programme otherwise known as MAMA Project, held at the Banquet Hall of the Presidential Villa, added that the hospital is near completion.
The Subsidy Reinvestment and Empowerment Programme on Maternal and Child Health (SURE P MCH) is a direct intervention by the Federal Government of Nigeria, using the savings from the fuel subsidy removal, to reduce the incidence of maternal and neonatal mortality.

SECURITY BEEFED UP IN OKRIKA OVER BURIAL OF JONATHAN’S MOTHER-IN-LAW

• No plan by commissioners to resign, says Rivers 
SECURITY has been beefed up in Okrika, Rivers State, ahead of this weekend’s burial of Mrs. Charity Tamunowaritoku Francis Oba, the foster mother of President Goodluck Jonathan’s wife, Patience.
Meanwhile, Rivers State government has described as baseless claim by the state Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) that six commissioners in Governor Chibuike Amaechi’s executive council will by next month defect and resign.
A Joint Task Force (JTF) gunboat has been deployed to the Okrika jetty as part of security measures put in place to ensure a hitch-free burial ceremony.
Mrs. Oba died in a ghastly motor accident on July 22, 2013, along Isiokpo-Elele Road in Rivers State on her way to Bayelsa State. Several other security posts manned by men of the Nigerian Army have been set up around the town.

APC CRITICIZES FIRST LADY’S HONORARY DOCTORATE WHILE NIGERIAN UNIVERSITIES REMAIN SHUT

The All Progressives Congress (APC) has described as the height of insensitivity the decision by First Lady Patience Jonathan to receive an Honorary Doctorate award in far away South Korea, even as Nigeria’s public universities have remained shut for many months under the watch of her husband.
In a statement issued in Lagos on Wednesday by its Interim National Publicity Secretary, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, the party said if the First Lady and her advisers had been perceptive enough, they would have known that embarking on such a jamboree at this time is an assault on the sensibilities of Nigerians in general, and the students who have been marooned at home for almost four months in particular.

PATIENCE JONATHAN HONOURED WITH DOCTORATE DEGREE IN SOUTH KOREA

Wife of Nigeria’s president, Patience Jonathan, on Thursday added one more Honorary Doctorate degree to her gallery after a South Korean University honoured her.
It is Mrs. Jonathan’s fourth doctorate since becoming Nigeria’s First Lady.
The awarding institution, Hansei University, said they honoured Mrs. Jonathan because she had worked “hard for many good causes.”
“She’s a humanitarian who has dedicated her life to working for the less privileged in Nigeria and Africa especially for women and children,” president and Chancellor ofHansei University, Sung-Hae Kim said.

PATIENCE JONATHAN TO ADDRESS FORUM OF FIRST LADIES AT UN GENERAL ASSEMBLY

United Nations - The First Lady, Dame Patience Jonathan, will participate at the High Level Forum for First Ladies at the 68th session of the UN General Assembly in New York.
Tthe News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the event, with the theme “Building Bridges for Peace on Health Disability: Post 2015 Sustainable Development Agenda Initiative”, is scheduled for Sept. 24.
She is expected to deliver a speech for the opening of the workshop session, while Senior Advisor, RAND Corporation on the African First Ladies Fellowship Programme, Nicole Brzeski, will chair the workshop.