The First Lady And Her Excesses By Ikechukwu Mbachu

By Ikechukwu Mbachu
Who says women are not powerful? Women are not just powerful; they
indirectly or directly determine how the affairs of most nations are
run. Some of the most important decisionsin history have either been
influenced or even made by women.
Like Groucho Marx the American classic comedian once said "Man does
not control his own fate, the women in his life do that for him" Women
wield a lot of power and influence notjust in the kitchen or in the
bedroom, they wield a lot of influence when it comes to a man's ears
as well. There is nothing that influences a man's decision as much the
voice of his wife or mistress as the case may be. There are several
examples of powerful men in history whose actions were backed or
motivated by women. Examples of such women include Isabella I of
Castile, Eleanor of Aquitaine, Nefertiti Queen of Egypt, Cleopatra and
several others.
In modern times, the position that best depicts the influence,
prestige and power of the woman is that of thewife of the president or
head of state and Nigeria have had its fair share of wives of
presidents and heads of state who have one way or the other influenced
the decisions and actions of their husbands.
When it comes to wives of the president or head of state, we have seen
different types; we have seen the flamboyant, the reclusive, the
flashy, the matronly and even the coquettish. The evolution of the
position of first lady in Nigeria has been in stages and eras. It has
slowly evolved from the initial harmless and supportive position to
the overbearing monstrosity we have presently.
First, there was the era of "oyibo" firstladies; when spouses of the
different Governor-Generals acted as first ladies, the most notable of
which was Lady Flora Shaw Lugard who named this geographical space
Nigeria, after her husband decided to weld people of different
cultures and languages together as one country.
Then came the era of indigenous first ladies, when we had the likes of
Flora Azikiwe, Victoria Aguyi-Ironsi, Victoria Gowon, Ajoke Mohammed,
Esther Oluremi Obasanjo and Safinatu Buhari acting as first ladies.
These ladies were noble, they operated from the background. They
merged their roles as wives and first lady seamlessly. These women
realized that they were ladies first before been first ladies and they
comported themselves in like manner. They were seen but not heard.
They knew their place especially in the African context. But their
laid back posture didn't detract anything from their elegance, as most
of them carried themselves only in manner befitting of queens. Simply
put, these women were role models.
Sadly, the era of these noble first ladies ended with the coming of
General Ibrahim Badamosi Babangida.His spouse Mrs. Maryam redefined
the concept of first ladyship; she took the position to another level
altogether. She remodeled the position using theAmerican template. She
was beautiful, intelligent, charismatic, flashy, ambitious and reveled
in her position as the wife of the president. Unlike others she didn't
just want to be seen, she also wanted to be heard and she wanted a
position/space of her own. She carved out for herself and sought to
legitimize the position of first lady. She started her own pet
project, Better Life for Rural Women and with her panache she got
everyone attracted to the project, never mind that most of the fund
for her project was public fund. Politicians, business men and others
all struggled to be identified in one way or the other with her
project. Shestrutted across the land like an empress with her flashy
smile and Nigerians were enamored by her. Maryam Babangida thus set a
negative trend, as almost every other first lady that came after her
followed with their own uppity character and pet projects. Save for
Justice Fati Abubakar, every other first lady improved upon the
illegitimacy created by Maryam Babangida. This trend continued such
that over time, the illegitimate and unconstitutional position of the
first lady became fully accepted and even somewhat endorsed by
Nigerians. First ladies of this era became so influential and powerful
so much so that we thought that we have seen the height of abuse of
power and privileges by these women. But along came the present era,
the era of Turai Yar Adua and Mrs patience Faka Jonathan. With the
coming of Turai Yar Adua and Mrs Patience Jonathan, the excesses and
abuse of the ideals of first ladyship went ballistics. Under Turai Yar
Adua,we witnessed an era in which an unconstitutional first lady
became more powerful than a minster, an era where ministers became
answerable to the first lady. An era in which some ministers were even
rumored to haveacted as cooks for the first lady. An erawhere the vice
president could not get access to the president until the first lady
gave approval, an era in which a single woman and a few other men
conspired to hide a president for months on end and helda country of
over 170 million people to ransom.
However, the advent of Mrs. Patience Jonathan have made Alhaja Turai
Yar adua look like a learner in the abuse of power by first ladies.
Under Mrs. Jonathan, unconstitutionality has become constitutionality
and illegality has become legality. Never before has Nigerians seen
such flagrant abuse of power. This era has seen the creation of the
office of the first lady with full paraphernalia of government thus
making the positionan official one. The first lady now moves across
the land like an elected official complete with all the perks and
appurtenances. Nowadays, people dread the visit of the first lady to
their state because of the inconveniences associated with such visit.
The visit of the first lady to somestate like Lagos and lately Rivers
statemeant the total lockdown of these states.
Never mind the fact that the position of the first lady is not
mentioned anywhere in the constitution, there isa now an official seal
of the first lady of Nigeria. Knowing Nigerians and our high level of
tolerance for the absurd, I am not worried that few people have
opposed or raise any alarm about the excesses and impunity of the
first lady. What worries and troubles me is where andwhen this
impunity and excesses is going to end? Some weeks back, the first
lady visited Rivers state and ever since that visit, Rivers state have
not been the same. Rivers state has become a theatre of war. Even
thoughthe first lady has denied playing any role in the imbroglio in
Rivers state, we all know where the different combatants are drawing
their source of strength. The imbroglio in Rivers state reminds one of
the local parlance "the witch cried yesterday and the child died
today, who does not know that it was the witch that cried yesterday
that killed the child who died" Fact is whether, Mrs. Goodluck
Jonathan admits it or not, her conduct so far leaves much to be
desired. We are witnessing something of an aberration in Nigeria
today, where an unelected first lady sees herself as more superior and
powerful than an elected governor and keeps instigating people openly
against a sitting governor. I care less about the travails of the
governor andhis squabble with the first lady. This istheir private
affair. If they don't like the each other's face, so be it, but their
quarrels must not be allowed to form a clog in the wheel of governance
a state.
My take is if these first ladies desire power that much, they should
simply wear the garb of politicians and stand for elections instead of
this unconstitutionality we are witnessingright now. We cannot have
two presidents in a country at the same time. The role of the first
lady is at best an advisory role and should be seen purely in that
context at least until the role is constitutionally changed. This
impunity must stop! It has to stop!
Ikechukwu Mbachu
Brandenburg Technical University, Cottbus, Germany