Nigeria’s First Lady, Dame Patience Jonathan was scheduled to visit the North-Central state of Nassarawa on Saturday, in continuation of her women mobilisation campaign rallies, but the visit did not see the light of day.
The much advertised visit of Mrs. Jonathan to garner support for the re-election bid of her husband, President Goodluck Jonathan, ended abruptly.
Nigerian Tribune reliably gathered that her absence at the well mobilised event has caused panic among supporters of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), especially women and youths, who had converged on City Hall, along Shendam road, Lafia as early as 9.00 a.m.
Party sources said Mrs. Jonathan’s sudden change of plans may be as a result of security reports that
her convoy might be attacked by persons suspected to be loyalists of the opposition All Progressives Congress (APC) in the state. Another
source added that, “her change of programme was not unconnected with the unfavourable weather
condition. The weather is not clear; you cannot expect her with her entourage to travel by road. No.
Definitely, we will reschedule it, we want her here, and so she needs to come, maybe next week.”
The state deputy governor, who also doubles as the state campaign coordinator, Goodluck/Sambo 2015, Honourable Dameshi Luka Barau said he can’t say precisely for now why the first lady’s visit couldn’t hold.
According to him, “this is a women programme, and I am not personally handling it, so I cannot say whether she is coming back or not, probably the organisers of the programme should be in best position to answer that. After this programme, we will meet them to know exactly what happened”.
Meanwhile, some men suspected to be aggrieved youths of the PDP, disrupted the rally of Mrs. Jonathan at the Samuel Ogbemudia Stadium in Benin, the Edo state capital yesterday.
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