Olalekan Adetayo writes:
Wife of the President, Mrs. Patience
Jonathan, was at her best again on Sunday. The venue was the Aso Villa
Chapel where she joined her husband, our outgoing President, for a
special thanksgiving and farewell service organised in their honour.
As usual, President Jonathan arrived the
chapel a bit earlier than his wife. He was already seated, engrossed in
the Sunday School, a Bible study session that always precedes the Sunday
service proper before his wife arrived. The President’s Chaplain, Ven.
Obioma Onwuzurumba, was the one conducting the session. He threw a
question at the congregation and his wife, Martha, stood up to offer an
answer.
It was in the process of answering that
question that the main door of the fully air-conditioned chapel was
thrown open to enable Mrs. Jonathan and her retinue of aides to move in.
Mrs. Onwuzurumba had to pause for a few minutes to allow the new
entrants find their seats before she continued with the answer.
Mama Peace remained calm throughout the
service. She read the first lesson of the service from Numbers 6:22-27.
After the message was delivered, Onwuzurumba announced that the
President and his family would offer a special thanksgiving while Mrs.
Jonathan would also offer another special thanksgiving.
At that point, I had started suspecting
that something would happen. For the first thanksgiving, Jonathan, his
wife and members of their family danced forward with their offering.
They were asked to stand on the altar and face the congregation while
friends, political associates and well-wishers danced forward, dropped
their offerings and danced back to their seats. All of us danced very
well in the presence of God except for Jonathan who had confessed
penultimate Sunday that whenever he considered what God had done in his
life, he wished he could dance like the biblical King David but he kept
missing his steps whenever he made attempts.
After praying for them, Onwuzurumba
announced that Mrs. Jonathan would give a short testimony before coming
for her thanksgiving. I quickly ran from my seat and located a
loudspeaker where I hurriedly placed my digital recorder. I knew that
mama would give a good story for Monday edition. I was however
disappointed when it was again announced that she would go ahead with
her thanksgiving without the testimony. I felt bad that those who
prevailed on her not to talk had deprived me of a good story.
To my greatest relief however,
immediately after the thanksgiving, Onwuzurumba again announced that
before Jonathan would speak to the congregation, a forerunner would come
and speak. That forerunner turned out to be Mrs. Jonathan. She was full
of smile as the congregation stood and clapped for her.
After greeting almost everybody in the
church, including choristers who she described as “angels,” the
President’s wife took time to acknowledge journalists. “The media men
are not left out. Today is your day. You are here to carry (sic) the
last news,” she said as she joined the congregation that had already
erupted in laughter. I heard some colleagues saying, “God forbid! This
won’t be the last story we will write.”
The man behind the camera that projects
images on the television screens both inside and outside the chapel
mischievously focused his camera on the battery of television cameramen
that positioned themselves directly in front of Mrs. Jonathan. As the
image appeared on the screen, another round of laughter cut through the
chapel.
She held the congregation spellbound as
she recounted her health challenges while their stay in the Villa
lasted. At the last count, according to her, she had undergone 13
surgeries in the last two years. She attributed her continued existence
to God. The testimony earned her another round of applause and standing
ovation.
By the time the President would mount the
pulpit for his remarks, his wife had already done a good forerunner job
and he confirmed that when he said he would no longer bother to observe
any protocol as he would rely on the one already established by his
wife.
No doubt, Mrs. Jonathan will be missed by
all and sundry in the villa for different reasons. For me, I will miss
her because she gives me good story when she speaks, when she refuses to
speak or when she is absent when she is supposed to be present. Mama is
indeed journalists’ delight any day.
Changing the Game Changer, Mr. Fix It
I wrote here a few weeks back how the
nickname, Game Changer, given to Adamu Muazu by the President affected
him greatly as the National Chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party.
I wrote that under him, the game changed
for the ruling party and it became an opposition party among other
negative changes that came its way as a result of the last general
election.
Oh Wednesday, the Game Changer again
changed the game by throwing in the towel. He bowed out as the party’s
helmsman. Uche Secondus has since taken over as acting chairman. The
chairman of the party’s Board of Trustees, Chief Tony Anenih, too could
not stay back to fix the party despite his own nickname of Mr. Fix It.
He too resigned his position.
Now the game is changing in the party, only God knows those who will fix it.
Fare the well, Mr. President
By the time this column will be coming
your way next Saturday, I will be left with no other choice than to add
the prefix “former” to the President’s title. By that time, Jonathan
would have vacated his seat for Muhammadu Buhari.
Irrespective of the different opinions
people may have about him, the President has done his part. There is
indeed a time for everything under the sun; a time to take the oath of
office and a time to bow out of the same office.
In case you do not know, Jonathan’s
favourite hymn is “Stand by Me.” It is a gospel hymn written by the
Philadelphia minister, Charles Albert Tindley, in 1905. I have therefore
decided to send him off in my own little way with the second stanza of
that his favourite hymn:
In the midst of tribulation,
Stand by me (stand by me);
In the midst of tribulation,
Stand by me (stand by me);
When the hosts of hell assail,
And my strength begins to fail,
Thou Who never lost a battle,
Stand by me (stand by me).
You have said you have been caged for
over a decade, you will be getting your deserved freedom from Friday.
Fare thee well, Mr. President.
No first lady like mama peace
ReplyDeleteNobody does it like her....Kirikiri awaits...
ReplyDelete