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Tuesday, 02 December, 2008 01:47 am
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| Scrap the Office of the First Lady |
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| Saturday, 09 February 2008 | ||||||
     Dear Sir, Scrap the Office of the First Lady It is quite appalling to notice the way lawlessness, shameful public shows are being practiced in Nigeria as if such practices are enshrined in the laws of the country. It has gotten to the point where the people have been made to swallow and accept whatever rubbish being dished out by the government, to be accepted as a norm, and therefore, nobody should question its relevance or importance. This is the exact problem with that title, 'First Lady', with its flashy trend, sparkle and razzmatazz public show, that is ascribed to the wives of the Federal, States and Local government leaders. What started as a way of exuding influence and power, beside the man on the hot seat, has now been turned into craze of wealth accumulation and waste of public funds by the so called First Ladies. The office of the First Lady, (if there is any like that), was made popular and known in the late 60's when Gen. Yakubu Gowon was Head of state. His wife, Mrs. Victoria Gowon, a trained Nurse, portrayed a lot of influence beside her husband, the General, and demonstrated a lot of will and power as the first 'First Lady' (that eventually elevated the status of nurses in the country), to have made her noticeable in the public's eyes, with various disguised philanthropic activities. Then came Gen. Muritala Mohammed (late) who had no time for frivolous activities like the first lady office with its ceremonies, but was more interested in the acts of good governance. Gen. Muritala Mohammed, a no-nonsense, brave soldier, with the passion of improving the standard of living of the ordinary citizens, paid no attention to the office of the first lady, which was relegated to the background. Upon Gen. Murtala's his calculated death, Gen. Olusegun Obasanjo (rtd) took over and never gave impetus to the office of the first lady, but rather, strictly followed the footsteps of his predecessor and ultimately, handed power to a civilian, Alhaji Shehu Shagari. Shagari, being the first Executive President on 1st October 1979, did not take note of the office of the First Lady. Though some say, it is as a result of his having many wives to content with, that made the office to remain dormant, throughout his stay in office. Even during the time of Maj. Gen. Mohammed Buhari (rtd), who toppled the civilian government, there was nothing like the office of the First Lady with its attendant ceremonious activities. It was all military affair. But every thing, concerning the office of the First Lady was revitalized, and given more muscles to operate (much more than Gowon's regime), when Gen. Ibrahim Babangida (rtd) came into power in August 27th 1985. His wife, Miriam Babangida, carried the first lady status on her shoulder, as if it was a crown, and toured most parts of the world, living an affluence and flamboyant lifestyle, wasting public funds on disguised government activities to help the needy and so on. Then came Gen. Sani Abacha (late), with his stringent autocratic selfish policies that brought untold pain to the masses, just like his predecessor did while in office. Gen. Abdulsalam Abubakar's brief stay in office, did not give much room to his wife, as the first lady, to be noticed by the public. And when immediate former President Olusegun Obasanjo came back in 1999, as a civilian, he promised Nigerians, in the first few weeks of his administration, that he was not going to be wasteful like the military regimes, and that he was going to scrap the office of the First Lady, since the position does not exist in the Nigerian constitution. But surprisingly, as time passed by, Obasanjo swallowed his words like others, and allowed his (late) wife, Stella Obasanjo, whom he preferred to be first amongst others to carry the first lady status, to another dimension, with different NGOs. With time, other First Ladies (state and local government wives) followed her footsteps, and every one of them, started brandishing themselves as First Ladies. We still remember vividly, a case where the former Delta State governor's Wife, Mrs. Nkoye Ibori, took upon herself as the First Lady, to waste public funds in the name of touring all the local government council Areas headquarters in the state. We challenged her decision then, by asking and trying to find out, how she was going to fund such gigantic tour? Because, whenever she went, her long entourage was with her, including the wives of commissioners and council chairmen/councilors. And all these movements and steps, involved wasting money, deceiving the public, with her NGOs and foundation programs, given the impression that she was actually working, when in reality, it was an avenue to mismanage and misappropriate public funds into private pockets. Despite our criticisms, the ex-First Lady of Delta State, continue with her local government tour, which became a routine event. Then we wrote again in 2005, to discourage this irrelevant waste of public funds on this frivolous tours. But all that went on deaf ears. The Ibori government has came and gone, but has left behind, a legacy of spending spree for the new state government to inherit and continue, especially the area of that office of the First Lady. From the indication, it appears that he, Dr. Emmanuel Uduaghan's government is following the footsteps of his cousin, Ibori. The wife of the state governor, Mrs. Roli Uduaghan, has equally towed the same line like Nkoye Ibori. Almost on a daily basis, her name is echoed on the state owned radio and TV stations, with reports of her numerous flamboyant activities. In all these things, the crux of the matter, which is our reason of discuss and criticism, is the fact that the office of the First Lady in whatever levels of government is not enshrined in the constitution of Nigeria and it is not known by Nigerians as being a legally constituted and accepted office. Yet, public funds are daily spent/wasted through the office. And it is unfortunate that this trend is allowed to thrive. Both at the Federal levels of government, that is, the office of the President and his Vice, and at the state levels, and even at the local government levels, the offices of the local government council chairmen and the vice, have all been indoctrinated into practicing this unconstitutal office of the 'First Lady'. To make matters worse, All the First Ladies across the nation have attached themselves with, special advisers, special assistants, chief of staff, protocol officers or some other security operatives, personal aids, all with their own (sets of) fleet of cars, that have now been made normal government circle of routine operations, where the state's treasury are daily milked to maintain such a highly profited entourage and office. Unfortunately, to the masses' detriment and well-being. How long should we continue to accommodate this lawlessness? With these analysis and the way things are going, we can see that our public leaders prefer to lead/rule with their own fabricated set of rules, laws or constitution, disregarding the Nigerian constitution of 1999. The office of the First Lady is not in the constitution, yet it is being operated like a legal office. How can our leaders operate an office that is not legal? Whose interest are they trying to foster? But of course, their self-conceived interest, where the office, serves as a means, an opportunity, an outlet, through which public funds (meant for the development), are siphoned, drained on a regular basis. Otherwise, why is the office still allowed to reign? We strongly call on President Umaru Musa Yar'Adua to scrap the office of the First Lady. Rather than carving out another office as the First Lady, to be used to waste public funds, We believe whatever public services that are intended by the wives of the various heads in government, carried out through the office of the 'Head of government', which is constitutionally accepted. The President should not hesitate to do the right thing in this angle. Since he promised a listening government. The office of the First Lady should be scrapped in its entirety, including their NGOs and whatever Foundations (that are funded with public funds), established under such offices. All these are mediums used to deceive the people, explaining that such NGOs or Foundations are internationally sponsored are all blatant lies, coated with sugar to deceive. Let us be truthful to ourselves and do the right things. This we urge. Zik Gbemre National Coordinator NDPC  Quote this article on your site | Print | E-mail
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