Patience Jonathan: I won’t return to presidential villa… the stress is too much

Patience Jonathan, wife of former President Goodluck Jonathan, says she would decline if asked to return to the presidential villa.

The former first lady spoke on Thursday at a colloquium organised to commemorate the 60th anniversary of the Nigerian Institute of Public Relations (NIPR).

She delivered a speech on ‘public relations, value reorientation, and economic transformation’.

Patience said “the stress of Nigeria is too much,” adding that she looks younger than she was while her husband was president.

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“If you call me now for the villa, I won’t go there. I won’t. Don’t you see how young I am? The stress is so much,” she said.

“The stress of Nigeria is so much. If God manages to bring you out of it, you should glorify God and thank him. It is the Lord’s doing and it is marvellous in our eyes.

“He has taken you there once, why do you want to go there again? Me I won’t go ooo.”

In 2015, Goodluck Jonathan lost the presidential election to former President Muhammadu Buhari.

Commenting on the aftermath of the election, Patience said she did not urge her husband to stay in office after he lost the poll.

She said Jonathan “willingly relinquished without a fight,” adding that the former president has become a model of democracy due to his actions.

“When we failed the election, I was with him (Jonathan). We were in the room when we were told you had lost. I did not whisper to him that he must stay because we will shed blood,” she said.

JONATHAN AND THE 2023 ELECTIONS

Before the last general election, a coalition of northern groups procured the presidential form of the All Progressives Congress (APC) for Jonathan.

The forms were purchased days after he had asked his supporters to “watch out” when he was asked if he would contest the 2023 poll.

Jonathan later said he did not give his consent for the purchase of the forms.

Femi Falana, the human rights advocate, had argued that section 137(3) of the constitution disqualified Jonathan from contesting.

Mike Ozekhome, a senior advocate of Nigeria, had countered Falana, saying Jonathan was “constitutionally” qualified to contest.

A federal high court in Yenagoa, Bayelsa state capital, eventually ruled that the former president was eligible to contest the election.

Despite the ruling and attendant speculations, Jonathan did not partake in the election.