Patience Jonathan Orders Arrest Of #BringBackOurGirls Abuja Protest Leaders, You Won’t Believe Why

Patience-Jonathan

First lady Patience Jonathan fueled anger Monday when a leader of a protest march said she ordered the arrests of two protest leaders, expressed doubts there was any kidnapping and accused the protest leaders of belonging to Boko Haram.

It was unclear what authority Mrs. Jonathan would have to give such orders, since there is no office of first lady in the Nigerian constitution.

Ayo Adewuyi, spokesman for the first lady, said he was unaware of any arrests. “The first lady did not order the arrest of anybody, and I’m sure of that,” he told the AP..

But Saratu Angus Ndirpaya of Chibok town said State Security Service agents drove her and protest leader Naomi Mutah Nyadar to a police station Monday after an all-night meeting at the presidential villa in Abuja, the capital. She said police immediately released her but that Nyadar remains in detention. Deputy Superintendent Daniel Altine, police spokeswoman for Abuja, said she had no information but would investigate.

But Ndirpaya said Mrs. Jonathan accused them of fabricating the abductions. “She told so many lies, that we just wanted the government of Nigeria to have a bad name, that we did not want to support her husband’s rule,” she said in a telephone interview with The Associated Press.

She said other women at the meeting, allies of Mrs. Jonathan including officials of the government and the ruling party, cheered and chanted “yes, yes,” when Mrs. Jonathan accused them of belonging to Boko Haram. “They said we are Boko Haram, and that Mrs. Nyadar is a member of Boko Haram.” She said Nyadar and herself do not have daughters among those abducted, but are supporting the mothers of kidnapped daughters.

Mrs. Jonathan said the women “had no right to protest,” especially Nyadar, whom she identified as the deputy director of the National Directorate of Employment. Jonathan said Nyadar should resign her government post, Ndirpaya said.

In a report on the meeting, Daily Trust newspaper quoted Mrs. Jonathan as ordering all Nigerian women to stop protesting, and threatening “should anything happen to them during protests, they should blame themselves.”

On Sunday night, Jonathan said his administration is doing everything possible. On Friday he created a presidential committee to go to the affected Borno state to work with the community on a strategy to get the girls free.

Associated Press writers Lekan Oyekanmi and Bashir Adigun contributed to this report from Abuja, Nigeria, and Ibrahim Garba contributed from Kano, Nigeria.

8 COMMENTS

  1. If I talk nw, fools like pete n paul or so, will say m supportin BH, so all dis is bcos borno state govnrs wife refused to show up?, y show up wen u knw she’ll end up blamin ur husband n his govt?…well sha dat cry should burn some calories 4rm her fat chubby body…dummies

  2. So why on earth will a state governor’s wife ignored the meeting? You guys should get it right, nothing any of you can do to denial the president second tenure, if you like make noise from now till tomorrow, it wouldn’t change any thing.

  3. We should nt jump @ every news we hear. We all know there are pple working to rubbish d govt. The pple I pity are d ones who are protesting without getting their facts right. The truth behind these girls abduction will eventually prevail.

  4. Dere’s no rumor wtot an elmt of truth, some1 cannot jst wake up & stat accusin d wife of d presidnt. Even if dere’s no office of d first lady, bein d second in comand in d 1st family of d country she can b very influential 2 an extent formally or informally. All dsame its very bad 4 her 2 b unconcernd abt little girls dat r helples.