Why I didn’t attend Patience Jonathan’s meeting – Borno First Lady speaks

The First Lady of Nigeria, Patience Jonathan, recently expressed her displeasure at the conduct of the Borno First Lady, Nana Shettima after the latter missed a meeting called by the former to review the current situation in the state.

Mrs. Shettima is said to have stated that she was intentionally absent because she knew that she would be humiliated at the meeting.

This was disclosed by the press secretary to the governor’s wife, Aisha Hassan in a statement made to journalists yesterday.

Mrs. Hassan said that Mrs. Shettima had actually travelled to Abuja all the way from Maiduguri on April 28 and met the First Lady at the Villa same day.

She said the governor’s wife took two hours to brief her on the schoolgirls abduction as well as her (Mrs Shettima) personal efforts and that of her husband towards securing the release of the girls.

She said some wives of service chiefs and National women leader of the PDP, Mrs. Kema Chikwe, were present when the Governor’s wife met with the First Lady, noting that the First Lady appreciated the efforts of the Governor’s wife and even consoled her when she noticed that she was obviously depressed.

Hassan noted that it was therefore shocking to the Governor’s wife when she heard Dame Patience on the television accusing the Governor of Borno as being responsible for the abduction.

She said, “It became clear to the Governor’s wife that from the body language of the First Lady and some of her close associates at the Saturday meeting, there was high possibility that the First Lady’s demand for the Governor’s wife on Sunday was to humiliate her, by accusing her husband to her face in the midst of participants at the meeting. She thought it was better she concentrates on her planned trip to Chibok onMonday morning.”

Hassan explained that before her meeting with Dame Patience on April 28, the Governor’s wife had held a meeting with a coalition of women groups that included stakeholders in Chibok; officials of the National Council of Women Societies; wives of security chiefs in Borno State; the Christian Association of Nigeria; and the Federation of Muslim Women of Nigeria.

Others, according to her, include the Association of Christian Widows, Association of Muslim Widows, theNational Association of Women Journalists, selected female professionals that included university lecturers, political appointees and the Principal of the attacked school after which a communique was issued as was reported by the media