First lady or Permanent Secretary?

Patience Jonathan, was on Friday in Yenagoa the capital of Oil rich Bayelsa State sworn in as a Permanent Secretary by the Bayelsa state Governor. She becomes the first wife of a serving President or Governor to be sworn in as Permanent Secretary

Mrs. Jonathan in a hand shake with Gov Dickson shortly after taking the oath of office as Perm Sec. Dickson is said to be close to the president and accusations of nepotism and patronage have long plagued Nigerian politics, but the governor insisted that the first lady “merits the appointment”.

“I have not done anything wrong and illegal,”

Dickson said at the ceremony. But some people in the State think the appointment was greased “with the oil of corruption” and the First Lady lacked the requisite experience. It is believed that her official credentials were doctored following the public uproar that ensued when her appointment was revealed on July 11, 2012. One of the opposition members said

“They must have re-arranged the document to cover-up the scandal that followed the announcement,

” The position of permanent secretary is not a chieftaincy title you splash around like confetti or an honourary tittle conferred on inexperienced people with money. A Permanent Secretary in the Ministry is a Civil Servant that has grown over the rank in the Ministry and has become an expert in that profession. A Permanent Secretary is a seasoned administrator. As a permanent secretary, Mrs Patience Jonathan becomes the administrative head of a ministry but right now no clue as to the Ministry she will be assigned. I hope the specific portfolio to be assigned to her at a later date would not be Education. Read some where that she was a teacher. I was shocked because the woman cannot read the speeches prepared for her so how was she communicating to her pupils? Was she teaching them in Ijaw dialect? Many people do not think Mrs Jonathan is better than the rat in the cellar when it comes to public-speaking. Michelle Obama is an intelligent woman. She could hold her own intellectually, even if her husband wasn’t the President of the United States. But she is the first Lady of United State for now until her husband's terms (I pray he wins a second term)in the White House is over. Hilary Clinton is a good lawyer and a professional politician but she suspended all that once the husband became the President of the United State of America. Even Peter Odili's wife, a Judge, suspended her career to be the first lady of Rivers State and so was Fati Abubakar. These women are intelligent and smart but confined themselves to the constitutional role of a First Lady until the expiration of their husband's terms in office. Is Dame Patience Jonathan going to leave her husband's side to seat in an office in Bayelsa and be answering sir to the Governor? Unfortunately, whatever we say now is not going to stop them as Mrs. Jonathan with 18 other permanent secretaries, were sworn in by the Chief Judge, Justice Kate Abiri at the State Banquette Hall Government House in Yenagoa. Well, the appointment of the First Lady as a permanent sec has caused a lot of controversy but the Governor who made the appointment is not fazed. Infact the Governor, Sekibo Dickson insisted that he followed due process in the cause of selecting the permanent secretaries and the First lady was not an exception. Patience Jonathan who spoke for the permanent secetary's, said that their appointment is a confirmation of Dickson administration’s resolve to transform the state economically, socially and politically.