Bayelsa State government says the appointment
of the First Lady, Dame Patience Jonathan, as a permanent secretary is
in recognition of her services to the state and nation, coupled with the
fact that she was a directorate level officer in its civil service (If I hear).
According to the statement signed by the Senior Special Assistant
(Media and Public Affairs) to Bayelsa State Governor, Daniel
Iworiso-Markson, “unknown to a number of people, the First Lady, Dame
Patience Jonathan, joined the Rivers State Civil Service in the 90s, and
upon the election of her husband as Deputy Governor in 1999,
transferred her service to the civil service of Bayelsa State. She rose
through the ranks of the public service of Bayelsa State and was last
appointed into the directorate cadre as a Level 15 officer in 2005”.
The
state government’s statement was in response to the criticisms which
trailed the inclusion of the First Lady’s name in the list of 19 public
servants appointed permanent secretaries on July 11.
My previous report:
Bayelsa State Governor, Seriake Dickson, has appointed
the wife of President Goodluck Jonathan, Dame Patience Jonathan, as one
of the seventeen new Permanent Secretaries in its state civil service.
According
to a statement from the Office of the Head of Service, Mrs. Gloria
Izonfo, the president’s wife was appointed alongside 16 senior civil
servants.
U wan try me, Mo good gan oh…
Explaining their reason for the
appointment, the senior special assistant to the governor on media
affairs, Mr. Daniel Iworiso-Markson, said that the First Lady was a
teacher in the state’s civil service and has been on leave of absence
since 1999 to join her husband in his political service; first as a
deputy governor, governor, vice president, then president.
As the wife of the governor of Bayelsa State, and
thus the First Lady of the state, Mrs Jonathan operated more under the shadow of
her husband, and so was not exactly visible. But all that is in the past now.
My own question is “what will she be doing there?”
She should not sha finish us with her ‘wonderful Grammar’ when she resumes office…hehehe#
