Patience Jonathan calls emergency summit of First Ladies, to say goodbye

Patience Jonathan alias Mama Peace:

For Mrs Patience Faka Jonathan, it’s time to say goodbye to fellow African First Ladies.

With her husband losing the 28 March election, she is also preparing to leave her ‘exalted’ office, though not recognised by the Nigerian constitution.

According to reports, as President of the African Ladies Peace Mission, she has summoned an emergency meeting of members, though she has two months left as their leader.

Mrs. Jonathan was elected the mission’s President at its seventh summit held in Abuja in July 2012 and her tenure would have expired in July 2015 if her husband had won re-election.

According to a copy of the invitation to members dated April 6 and personally signed by the President’s wife, she explained that she summoned the emergency summit to ensure that there would not be leadership vacuum in the organisation as it happened in 2010 when her predecessor left office without handing over.

She said her desire was to put in place a standard that would strengthen the organisation and ensure effective mechanism to guarantee seamless takeoff for the incoming leadership.

The invitation partly read, “…Your Excellency may recall that Nigeria was re-elected President of the AFLPM at the 7th Summit in Abuja in July 2012. With the recent election in my country and a new government coming on board from May 29, 2015, it has become necessary to convene an emergency summit of the AFLPM to facilitate a smooth and formal hand over to the new Executive Committee that will pilot the affairs of the Peace Mission for the next two years.

“The Emergency Summit is proposed for Friday, May 15, 2015 at the Interim Secretariat of the African First Ladies Peace Mission, Abuja by 2pm. The Summit will, however, be preceded by the 4th meeting of the Executive Bureau by 9am, on May 15 at the same venue. The Bureau Meeting is for members of the Executive Bureau, comprising South Africa, Sudan, Cameroon, Libya and Congo Brazzaville.

“…In the light of the above, may I appeal to Your Excellency to give utmost consideration to attending the Emergency Summit in order to ensure that our organisation maintains its current momentum.

“We will deeply appreciate your kind early response to help us in planning the Summit, in view of limited time available to us.”
For more, read: http://www.punchng.com/news/patience-jonathan-to-quit-as-african-first-ladies-president/