By Abiola Olawale
Former Nigeria First Lady, Patience Jonathan, has given reasons she would decline to return to the presidential villa.
According to Patience, the wife of the former President Goodluck Jonathan, the responsibilities and pressures associated with being a first lady are excessively burdensome.
During a colloquium organized to commemorate the 60th anniversary of the Nigerian Institute of Public Relations (NIPR), the former first lady, speaking on Thursday, expressed her disinterest in assuming the role of First Lady of Nigeria based on the experience she had in that capacity.
She said: “The stress of Nigeria is too much,” adding that she looks younger than she was while her husband was president.
“If you call me now for the villa, I won’t go there. I won’t. Don’t you see how young I am? The stress is so much,” she said.
“The stress of Nigeria is so much. If God manages to bring you out of it, you should glorify God and thank him. It is the Lord’s doing and it is marvellous in our eyes.
“He has taken you there once, why do you want to go there again? Me I won’t go on.”
The New Diplomat reports that Goodluck Jonathan lost the 2015 presidential election to former President Muhammadu Buhari.
Commenting on the aftermath of the election, Patience said she did not urge her husband to stay in office after he lost the poll.
She said Jonathan “willingly relinquished without a fight,” adding that the former president has become a model of democracy due to his actions.
“When we failed the election, I was with him (Jonathan). We were in the room when we were told you had lost. I did not whisper to him that he must stay because we will shed blood,” she added.
