"Patience Jonathan Is Breaking The Law"

Human rights lawyer and Senior Advocate of Nigeria, Mr. Femi Falana,
in this interview with PUNCH, says the office of the First Lady is
illegal and the roles of president/governors' wives shouldbe limited.
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What does the Nigerian constitution say about the office of the First
Lady and what are the roles assigned to the occupant?
The post of the First Lady is not a creation of the constitution. In
other words, there is no mention or reference to the post in the
constitution or any other statute in theland. So, the question of
assigning responsibilities to the office does not arise. In the first
and second republics, there was no office of the First Lady. Even
under successive military regimes up to the Muhammadu Buhari/Tunde
Idiagbon era, the post was unknown. It was under the Gen. Ibrahim
Babangida junta that the wife of the military president created the
post, albeit illegally. There was no decree to back it up. When the
late Mrs. Maryam Babangida (known as Maryam the First) started
diverting public funds to run her Better Life project, the late Chief
Gani Fawehinmi, SAN, challenged the aberration in court. Although the
action was struck out for want of locus standi, Nigerians kicked
against the illegality. Under the maximum dictator, Gen. Sani Abacha,
we had the reign of 'Maryam the second.'
The post of the First Lady was one of the oddities bequeathed to the
civilian regime by a corrupt and wasteful military dictatorship. From
1999 till now, no president has had the courage to check the excesses
of his wife. These days, roads are blocked in our cities for hours
because the wife ofthe president is retouching her hair in a salon.
Very recently, Lagos was completely grounded for eight hours because
the wife of the president (Patience Jonathan) was in town to attend a
naming ceremony. Governor Raji Fashola, SAN, was compelled to condemn
the illegal disruption of activities in the state.
Last month, the Government Reserved Area in Port-Harcourt was closed
down for 11 days because the wife of the president was around to
kick-start the 2015 electioneering in total violation of the Electoral
Act. It was reported that there were some official functionsthe
elected governor could not attend because his official residence was
blocked by armed gendarmes, who were detailed to protect and secure
anunelected person. It is high time such reckless impunity associated
with the wife of the president was stopped. Theother time, all the
wives of senators were summoned to Abuja where the president's wife
asked them to warn their husbands to behave themselves. Why should
senators allow such humiliation with all the risks involved in
travelling to Abuja for frivolities?
Many have argued that the wives ofgovernors and the President should
carry out some governmental responsibilities to complement the efforts
of their spouses. Is this logical?
Nigerians are totally opposed to the idea of conferring any power or
responsibilities on the spouses of presidents and governors. The
Justice Alfa Belgore Constitutional Review Panel, set up by President
Goodluck Jonathan, rejected the inclusion of the office of the First
Lady in the constitution. The National Assembly constitutional review
committees have also kicked against it. Recently, the proposed
allocation of N4bn in the Federal Capital Territory budget to build an
office for the First Lady was expunged by the Senate. If the
allocation had been passed, I would have challenged it in court. But,
the Senate rightly rejected it. Let the spouses and family members of
elected officials give a helping hand tothem by ensuring their success
and not by blocking roads to disrupt the free movement of goods and
services and in the process, violate the freedom of movement of
citizens.
Where her roles cannot be governmental, what kind of public duties can
she carry out?
I cannot dictate for spouses of elected officials what roles they
should play. But, let them learn from the professionals among them
like Justice Mary Peter-Odili, who has reached the apogee of her
career. If she had been on sabbatical leave for eight years when her
husband was the governor of Rivers State, she could not have made it
to the apex court by now. Let those who decide to run non-governmental
organisations run them for the benefit of our people. There is so much
to do. Let them join the campaign to remove 10.5 million children from
the streets and register them in schools. Let them join the battle to
combat HIV/AIDS, malaria, cholera and other preventable diseases that
are ravaging our people. Let them influence their spouses to address
these problems and the crisis of poverty in the midst of plenty.
What about the paraphernalia attached to the office of the First Lady,
should the President/governor's wife enjoy the benefits accruable to
elected public office holders?You cannot talk of the paraphernalia of
an office that has not been establishedby law. However, the spouses of
an elected President and governors are entitled to attend programmes
and travel with their partners. They are entitled to adequate
security, particularly in this age of kidnapping. There are some other
benefits conferred on them by law.