OPINION: LETS STOP BEEING PATIENT WITH PATIENCE JONATHAN

First Lady Patience Jonathan has made series of headlines recently; mostly for highly provocative statements that have aroused mixed reactions from the listening public. It is therefore, not a surprise, that Nigerians are starting to get a little bit uncomfortable with quite a few of her outbursts.
Naij.com commenter on political issues, Chidi Okoye has expressed that it is time Nigerians did something about her actions which he believes might be detrimental to Nigeria growth.
Critics have rightly expressed outrage at some of the hate comments Patience Jonathan has made this campaign season and several calls to have her prosecuted have been made.
Last Friday, taking a dig at her husband’s main challenger and presidential candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Muhammadu Buhari, at the Benue State edition of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) Women Campaign Rally held at the IBB Square, Makurdi, the first lady said that “a child that is still crawling at age 72 does not have anything new to offer the people of Nigeria”.
READ ALSO: APC Campaign Responds To Mrs. Jonathan
At a similar rally on Tuesday, this time in Lokoja, Kogi State, she described Buhari as unfit to be the country’s president, adding that he is too old and senile. “Wetin him dey find again? Him dey drag with him pikin mate,” she said in Pidgin English. “Old man wey no get brain, him brain don die pata pata.”

The vitriol that has greeted these recent comments is understandable; as the utterances are unbefitting of a first lady, especially one whose husband is seeking re-election in a nation wracked with violence and ethnic/religious divisions. However, the criticism has largely been online and among members of the elite. This demography would be shocked into taking more direct action if they knew just how dangerously effective such rhetoric is.
Mrs Jonathan’s audience at these rallies have lapped up these comments, and their applause has encouraged her to increase the tempo as she travels through various states mobilizing women to vote for President Goodluck Jonathan. In markets and villages, her comments are being analyzed by admirers who identify with the rag-to-riches story she promotes about herself.
These allegations she makes against Buhari are being embellished and retold in exaggerated versions. In markets and bars, thousands of hitherto undecided voters are being convinced that Buhari is too old and sick to be president; and this is further being exacerbated by the man’s lengthy stay in London. The propaganda is sickening; but it is achieving its purpose.
READ ALSO: PDP Will Govern Nigeria For The Next 60 Years – Patience Jonathan
Supporters of the APC need to go beyond online rants to actually stop Mrs Jonathan. The first lady has no immunity from prosecution, and any half decent lawyer would see that she has breached sections of the Electoral Act. It is time for civil society groups and the hundreds of APC support groups that are scattered all over the country to take a bold step and institute legal proceedings against Mrs Jonathan.
The lawsuit itself might not be enough to stop her; but the negative publicity that it would attract to President Jonathan’s re-election bid would bring pressure on her. The APC strategy of being patient and counting down to May 29 when she is expected to leave the Presidential Villa with her husband may just backfire. If nothing is done now, they might find themselves being patient until 2019.
 (All opinion expressed here are that of the author and does not necessarily reflect the views of Naij.com)
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