THE First Lady, Mrs Patience Jonathan, has purportedly resigned her appointment as a Permanent Secretary in the state civil service.
Patience Jonathan, who is popularly referred to as “Super” permanent secretary was appointed in July 2012 by Governor Seriake Dickson, five months after his inauguration.
It was gathered that the 57-year-old Patience Jonathan left the service voluntarily, while sources claimed she resigned due to a shouting match between her and the governor over issues bothering on politics of the state.
One of the sources who pleaded anonymity said the First Lady in her letter of resignation opted for voluntary retirement and confirmed that the ministry had computed and finalised her terminal benefits already.
When asked the total amount of her terminal benefits, he said: “well I don’t know. All I can tell you is that everything has been processed. The whole thing is political. It appears Madam Peace is not happy with the governor. With her resignation, the battle line has been drawn.”
But, a senior official of the ministry confirmed the development and said it was true the First Lady resigned.
Meanwhile, a chieftain of the National Council of Women Societies (NCWS), Chief (Mrs) Antonia Balogun, has commended the wife of the president, Patience Jonathan, for her ongoing efforts at increasing the presence of women in politics across the country.
Balogun particularly lauded the First Lady for hosting female aspirants in the country to a meeting recently in Abuja with the purpose of examining how well Nigerian women who have held elective positions since the beginning of the present democratic dispensation in 1999 have fared.
The meeting, she said, is expedient as the nation prepares for another round of elections in 2015. According to her, the percentage of women occupying elective positions is still a far cry from the 35 per cent affirmation for women.
According to the former president of the Ogun State chapter of the NCWS, “though there was an increase in the number of women elected into legislative positions between 2003 and 2007, the percentage is still a far cry from the 35 per cent affirmation agreement at the International Women Conference in Beijing, China in 1985.”
Balogun lauded Mrs Jonathan for calling the meeting to seek ways of redressing the fall in the number of women who contested elective positions and won.
She stated that in 2011, in the National Assembly, only seven women were elected as senators while 19 were elected as members of the House of Representatives.
The NCWS, she said, appreciated the First Lady for conveying the meeting in which she challenged female aspirants on charting a plan that includes funding, curtailing of male chauvinism and violence as they prepare for the next election.
SOURCE: NIGERIAN TRIBUNE
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