Ezekiel Awojide, Abuja
Wife of former President Goodluck Jonathan, Patience, has said she has no plan of returning to Aso Rock Villa in 2027 as the First Lady.
Rather, she said she would campaign alongside the First Lady, Oluremi Tinubu for the reelection of her husband, President Bola Tinubu.
Her comment was a reaction to those asking her husband to contest the 2027 presidential election.
Jonathan left Aso Rock in 2015 when he was defeated as the candidate of the People’s Democratic Party by the then candidate of the All Progressives Congress, Muhammadu Buhari.
But speaking after receiving the Women Icon Leader of the Year award from Accolade Dynamics Limited in Abuja on Saturday night, Mrs. Jonathan said she would support President Bola Tinubu and his wife rather than return to the State House.
She said, “I didn’t just know her (Remi Tinubu) just because she’s the First Lady, no. We worked together. We worked as a group.
“We are groups. We worked when I was a deputy governor’s wife. We worked when I was a governor’s wife.
“I know her. I talked with Oluremi. Even when my husband was the vice president, Oluremi stood with her husband and supported us during our first election.
“They supported us. So, for me, I have a conscience. I cannot abandon my friend, whether you like it or not.
“Because you see, this is turn by turn. Today is my turn – I will go. Tomorrow, it will be another person’s turn – then we go. And when we go, will we still meet? Where will we meet? I don’t know.
“I stand by my friend. My friend is great. I told her I would campaign with her. I’m not denying her. I’m not running. I’m not going back to the villa. If you call me, I will not go.
“I say it every day. Don’t you like how young I look? People say, ‘Mama, you are young, you are young!’ It is because I have rest of mind, yes. I don’t want to go there – let my friend be there.”
