PATIENCE JONATHAN: A GREAT “THEOLOGIAN” THAT THE WHOLE NIGERIAN WOULD MISS SO MUCH

ELUSIYAN ‘TOLULOPE FRANCIS

In his book “Everyday greatness” Stephen covey says “we may think we have nothing to contribute. But the lessons of history are full of examples of the power that can come from the daily choices of a solitary individual”. The first lady even in her weakness with all passion and a kind of military zealousness had contributed immensely and meaningfully to the about to be concluded administration of Good luck Jonathan, and the modicum of decency of her imperial majesty cannot be over looked. Her popular aphorism “chai! There is God o” made me to call her “a great theologian”. This statement “chai!  There is God o” indeed serves as a manifestation of her person to the whole world, and that of cause clear the way for her popularity both within the shores of Nigeria and out of the country.

From the look of things one would see that this statement made by this very woman is such a wonderful one, a statement that is so pregnant with meaning, in fact it is indeed an historical statement that has no tendency of fading away in our memory as far as the administration of Good luck Jonathan is concerned.

I have come to notice the fact that every speech of this woman is always in affiliation with God. Perhaps, this very woman just wants us to have that consciousness of the higher being. However, so many Nigerians have turned her very ever pertinacious statement to something else in the entertainment industries. In fact, according to one of my lecturers, he said and I quote “that very woman, I mean that very woman, that one, hmmmmm, that woman called the wife of our president, the so called first lady, that maggot is supposed to be in theatre act”

Left to me as regard all the statement which had been projected by this woman, I think she is trying to say something like “these evils in our country is too much; the abduction of the chibok girls, bomb explosion here and there, confusion created and efforts made to even obliterate the country. So, for her, the causal agent of the confusion and tension in the Nigerian society do not have the fear of the Supreme Being. This is more or less the reason why she cried out loud for the whole world to know, if at all they have forgotten, or probably to remind them that there is one super-human, the Supreme Being, the God that is watching everybody. Her words apparently, linked to different aspect of our situations in Nigeria. For, corruption is everywhere, and to say that corruption is revolving round the state is an understatement; Politicians are keeping to themselves the public wealth, what belongs to everybody. That is greediness: chai! There is God o! So many graduates are outside without job and government is not even making a very huge effort to solve the problem, perhaps their own children are not within the state, how would they be affected? Hence, they find it very easy to be less concern: chai! There is God o! God is looking at all our activities. Amidst of these unpleasant situations, however, man must definitely survive. Today, so many fake pastors and churches have emerged, turning the churches to business centers, all in the name of “man must survive”, using the name of God to lie and manipulate people to earn money for living: chai! There is God o! Even the so called “free education” is no longer free, government schools and colleges no longer give text books that are supposed to be given to students for free , the books are now been sold to them and we were promised free education: chai! There is God o! Although this is mostly manipulated by teachers all in the name of “government is not paying us well” Looking at it critically, we have also discovered that even at the grass root the corruption is very much prominent. Chai! There is God o! Should I say something about security? Oh! I would describe the situation as a symphonic rhythm of violence and pestilence. It seems that we have been so much acclimated to horror and ferocity that violence, gunshots, bombings now constitutes melodic and harmonious renditions in our ears or bombs now sound like simple knockouts. The surfeit butchery, bloodbath and massacre by brave acts of terrorism is a slap on the government and indeed all of us. What more can we say? Chai! There is God o! Our nation is adrift and we are all dancing in a season of blindness to our own dirges. To borrow the words of  Niyi osundare, “the current image of Nigeria is that of a big for nothing country where  nothing works the right way, a country that is finding it increasingly difficult to govern itself” chai! There is God o!

Conclusively, I think the first lady is fed up with been a spectator and that is why she voiced out. Well, today! Whether we like it or not that statement is highly germuralized, because it is a statement that is very sensitive and in away geared towards awakening the consciousness of God in every individual. Whether it is accepted or not is not our concern in this very discourse, indeed what we have tried to do is to look at the statements in another mannerism, and not just the statements but also the personality of the woman in question both as the first lady of the country and as a very important personnel that had contributed immensely and comprehensively to the just about to be concluded administration which of course is part of our historical trajectory in Nigeria, and  which would continue to depict itself right from now and to the next generation. I want you to know that we all, as citizens of this noble country, have our fundamental human right to talk, to express our feelings, although there are limitations to that. We are free to express our selves not because we are in any position, but because we as human beings, have the right to do that when situations are unpalatable. It is on this note therefore that I would like to conclude with the words of Karl Marx “your right is your freedom and your freedom is a freedom of choosing and not a freedom of not choosing because not to choose is better than to choose not to choose.