Nigeria: Analysing the First Lady's Chibok Cry

opinion

Nigeria's first lady, Patience Faka Jonathan, on Sunday 4th May, 2014 convened a meeting over the abduction of some two hundred and seventy female students of Government Girls' Secondary School, Chibok, Borno State. A video clip of the meeting, in which she appeared to broken down in tears, has since gone viral on social media.

The meeting was convened ostensibly as her contribution to the ongoing BringBackOurGirls campaign spreading round the country and beyond. However, even as one is tempted to applaud the First Lady's well-choreographed empathy for the abducted students, a careful observation shows that her actions and statements manifest so many vexatious issues that need to be addressed, and call for a redefinition of the designation "first lady" in the light of the Nigerian constitution - at least for those who do not know and for those who know but are simply inebriated with impunity.

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