- Her traumatic experiences in the villa
- How 2015 PDP betrayal hurt the family
By Jeremy Fregene
Echoes of unsavory experiences struck a chord in friends and associates over the weekend as former First Lady, Dame Patience Jonathan, outrightly ruled out any desire to return to Aso Rock in 2027.
Mrs. Jonathan, wife of former President Goodluck Jonathan, during an event to honor Folashade Tinubu-Ojo, the daughter of President Bola Tinubu and the Iyaloja-General of Nigeria, in Abuja on Saturday night, dismissed any intention of returning to Aso Rock Villa in 2027.
Instead, she declared her support for First Lady Senator Oluremi Tinubu and her husband, President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, ahead of the 2027 general elections.
Addressing the crowd, Mrs. Jonathan said , “all the way, we are with you. We will follow. Direct us, and we will follow. Because there is only one president at a time. We don’t have two presidents. I am outspoken, if I don’t like something, I will say it. But if I like something, I die for it.”
“I believe in one president. I believe in turn-by-turn. When it’s your turn, I will support you. When it’s not your turn, step back, so that the country can move forward.”
Mrs. Jonathan recalled how the First Lady and the president supported her and her husband when they contested for the presidency in 2011.
She insisted that rather than return to Aso Rock, she would support the First Lady and the president.
She said, “I didn’t just know her today just because she’s the First Lady, no. We worked together. We worked as a group.
“We had a group. We worked when I was a deputy governor’s wife. We worked when I was a governor’s wife. I know her. I talked with Oluremi. Even when my husband was the vice president, Oluremi stood with her husband and supported us during our first election. They supported us. So, for me, I have a conscience. I cannot abandon my friend, whether you like it or not.
“Because, you see, this is turn by turn. Today is my turn—I will go. Tomorrow, it will be another person’s turn—they will go. And when we go, will we still meet? Where will we meet? I don’t know.
“I stand by my friend. My friend is great. I told her I would campaign with her. I’m not denying her. I’m not running. I’m not going back to the villa. If you call me, I will not go.”
Apart from her expression of affection and loyalty to her friend, Remi, associates recall unsavory Aso Rock experiences that seem to have firmed up the former First Lady’s resolve to stay away from the presidential villa for the foreseeable future.
In 2013, during a thanksgiving in her honor at the Aso Rock villa chapel, she had recounted a near death experience that shocked even her listeners.
According to her, “ I actually died. I passed out for more than a week. My intestine and tummy were opened.
I am not Lazarus but my experience was similar to his .My doctors said all hope was lost. It was God himself in His infinite mercy that said I will return to Nigeria. God woke me up after seven days.”
Continuing, she said “I know that some people somehow leaked the information that I was dead. They are people that I trust and rely on. To them, I was dead and I would never return to the country alive.
“Some of them even sold my things off. I won’t say everything here. It is the Lord’s doing that I returned alive.
When God says yes, nobody can say no.
“People are always afraid of operation (surgery). But in my own case, while my travails lasted, I was begging for surgery after the third operation because I was going to the theatre everyday. It was God who saw me through.
“I did eight or nine operations within one month. It was not an easy one.
“The day I came back, I said God I have nothing to say, I offer myself to you. I will be doing things that will touch the lives of the less privileged.
“God gave me a second chance. He knew I had not completed the assignments He gave me, that was why I was sent back.”
Shockingly for Mrs. Jonathan, just two years after the first set of surgeries, and right in the middle of the 2015 presidential campaign, she was told she needed another one.
“And they told me mama, there is another bigger operation that you have to go in for. This one would not be in this hospital. It is too small for this type of operation. You have to go to a bigger hospital and I said ah ha,” she said, adding that two years ago when she was sick, she underwent a total of about nine surgeries in a space of one month.
“Then, do you know I went to the bigger hospital. I booked for the operation and I was asked to go for the campaign. They gave me a new date. I had paid for everything remaining just to enter the theatre and it occurred to the hospital, let’s check her again.
“By this time , my husband had lost the election. I had packed out of Villa, we are about going. Behold! I went to four hospitals again and the thing had vanished. My doctors were surprised they didn’t think that could happen,” she said.
Apart from her personal traumatic experiences in the Villa, associates recall the almost tragic betrayal the Jonathans suffered in the hands of their own party, the People’s Democratic Party, PDP, in the 2015 elections.
In the build up to the elections, many high-profile PDP members defected to the All Progressives Congress, (APC), including five governors and several National Assembly members, who christened themselves as the New PDP(n-PDP). These defections significantly weakened the PDP’s structure and support base.
Associates close to the Jonathans recall how several powerful party elders and stakeholders were either silent, non-committal, or openly supported the opposition.
For instance, some traditional PDP power brokers in the North did little to rally support for Jonathan.
Former President Olusegun Obasanjo, a major PDP figure, openly criticized Jonathan and tore up his party membership card shortly before the election, signalling his disapproval and encouraging others to follow suit.
“Even the presidential campaign suffered internal sabotage,” a senior Jonathan team member recalled yesterday.
” There was internal sabotage in many states, lack of coordination, and allegations that funds meant for campaign activities were misappropriated. Some party members allegedly worked behind the scenes to support Buhari and deliberately refused to mobilize for Jonathan,” he said.