First Ladies: Patience Jonathan hands over ALFPM presidency

Dame Patience Jonathan, Friday, handed over her role as the President of the African First Ladies Peace Mission (AFLPM),  her successor, Jadiya Hamdi Mohamed, first lady of Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic in Abuja.

Former President, African First Ladies Peace Mission (AFLPM), Dame Patience Jonathan (left), handing over to her successor, Jadiya Hamdi Mohamed, first lady of Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic, at the emergency 8th summit of the AFLPM in Abuja, yesterday. PHOTO: NAN

The hand over ceremony took place at the Office of the First Lady Federal Republic of Nigeria, in Abuja, during the 8th AFLPM Summit of the mission which comprises of wives of Presidents of all African countries.

The tenure of Patience Jonathan which started when she was elected as the mission’s President at its seventh summit held in Abuja in July 2012 is supposed to have expired in July 2015 when a new president would have been elected.

However, Mrs. Jonathan summoned an emergency summit of the mission on Friday, where she handed over to her successor.

It will be recalled that the action of the president’s wife was earlier calculated by critics as a ploy to prevent the wife of the President-elect, Hajiha Aisha Buhari, from replacing her as President of the African First Ladies Peace Mission (AFLPM).

Meanwhile, Patience has cleared the air saying it is mischievous for anyone to scheme such allegations to cause disaffection between her and Buahri’s wife.