okay, so i have decided to give a whining alert whenever i am about to write blog posts on subjects that baffle the living daylight out of me. moving really past the whole election process that has successfully gone by in nigeria, i sat down to reflect on what the next set of leaders actually held for this country in the next four years. i will not proceed to bore you with any lengthy essay on the expectations of the nigerian populace from their elected officials because it is clearly a moot point. once again, the entire voting process was premised on personal characteristics of the individual candidates as against what their party stood for and that clearly leaves little room for any lofty expectations from a party run government.
but one thing stood out of all this...and her name is Dame Patience Jonathan. she is the wife of the president. she is the wife of the president that fate thrust on this country at a very turbulent moment in our recent history. at the time, i could not have been bothered very much about her as a person and what she stood for, but now that it appears we are legitimately stuck with her for another 4 years, i feel compelled to ask myself if the country deserves better.
i am not one to laugh people to scorn for things beyond their control, and i am very in line with the tenets of respecting older people but as everyone must have heard by now, madam (as i shall call her going forward) is famous. she is famous for campaigning vigorously for her husband throughout the elections until people had to virtually beg her not to further ruin his chances. her grammar is, to put it mildly, quite questionable and she does not come accross as the best representative of the nigerian woman of the 21st century. but she is the presidents wife. and although the position is not recognized by law or the constitution, it puts within her reach immense influence to dictate some policy direction for any cause close to her heart.
i hate to compare...but to be honest in the world today, comparism is inevitable. where we pride ourselves as a country of intellectuals, with our nationals taking over the world in various fields in many foreign countries, i shudder to close my eyes and imagine madam address the international conference of wives of government or some such other fora. but i digress...
i'd be the first to admit that the best ideas are not conceived in perfect english grammar and excellent diction does not translate to effective leadership, and frankly madam is not obliged to do more than charter flights and go shopping in london (mrs. mugabe, anyone?)...but the role of first lady has become culturally entrenched in society.
all over the internet, michelle obama's campaign to rid america of childhood obesity is in my face, beyonce has been dancing her butt off surrounded by fat kids just to get children to move their bodies and find exercise fashionable and "cool". an immediate need with a simple solution = success/acceptance. madam has spent two years pursuing her pet project called "pless ya hand on the umblerra" to get her husband elected. thats over now and the era of rhetorics has long gone. better life for rural women still left the women rural and frankly after maryam babangida, i don't recall any of the first lady projects (cos clearly they were not impactful). American first ladies from Jackie Kennedy in 1961 to Michelle Obama in 2009 have tackled everything from breast cancer awareness (Betty Ford) to drug abuse (Nancy Reagan's "just say no") to Rosalynn Carter's Mental Health project.
nigeria is full of need... madam should just pick anything from women's domestic abuse, girl child education, autism and special need child care or school enrolment and run with it...because her position is one that will leave her in our minds come what may, and her actions alone will determine if all we will remember in future is her famous umblerra soundtrack, or the memory of a true mother of the nation.
nuff said. see y'all around peeps.
but one thing stood out of all this...and her name is Dame Patience Jonathan. she is the wife of the president. she is the wife of the president that fate thrust on this country at a very turbulent moment in our recent history. at the time, i could not have been bothered very much about her as a person and what she stood for, but now that it appears we are legitimately stuck with her for another 4 years, i feel compelled to ask myself if the country deserves better.
i am not one to laugh people to scorn for things beyond their control, and i am very in line with the tenets of respecting older people but as everyone must have heard by now, madam (as i shall call her going forward) is famous. she is famous for campaigning vigorously for her husband throughout the elections until people had to virtually beg her not to further ruin his chances. her grammar is, to put it mildly, quite questionable and she does not come accross as the best representative of the nigerian woman of the 21st century. but she is the presidents wife. and although the position is not recognized by law or the constitution, it puts within her reach immense influence to dictate some policy direction for any cause close to her heart.
i hate to compare...but to be honest in the world today, comparism is inevitable. where we pride ourselves as a country of intellectuals, with our nationals taking over the world in various fields in many foreign countries, i shudder to close my eyes and imagine madam address the international conference of wives of government or some such other fora. but i digress...
i'd be the first to admit that the best ideas are not conceived in perfect english grammar and excellent diction does not translate to effective leadership, and frankly madam is not obliged to do more than charter flights and go shopping in london (mrs. mugabe, anyone?)...but the role of first lady has become culturally entrenched in society.
all over the internet, michelle obama's campaign to rid america of childhood obesity is in my face, beyonce has been dancing her butt off surrounded by fat kids just to get children to move their bodies and find exercise fashionable and "cool". an immediate need with a simple solution = success/acceptance. madam has spent two years pursuing her pet project called "pless ya hand on the umblerra" to get her husband elected. thats over now and the era of rhetorics has long gone. better life for rural women still left the women rural and frankly after maryam babangida, i don't recall any of the first lady projects (cos clearly they were not impactful). American first ladies from Jackie Kennedy in 1961 to Michelle Obama in 2009 have tackled everything from breast cancer awareness (Betty Ford) to drug abuse (Nancy Reagan's "just say no") to Rosalynn Carter's Mental Health project.
nigeria is full of need... madam should just pick anything from women's domestic abuse, girl child education, autism and special need child care or school enrolment and run with it...because her position is one that will leave her in our minds come what may, and her actions alone will determine if all we will remember in future is her famous umblerra soundtrack, or the memory of a true mother of the nation.
nuff said. see y'all around peeps.
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Time will tell..