Leave Dame Patience Jonathan Out of Turai’s Land Tussle-Associate

Mallam Musa Abubakar, national coordinator for the Movement for Enhancement of the Welfare of Women and Children in Nigeria, urged well-meaning Nigerians to discountenance the negative propaganda in certain quarters that there is land tussle between our venerable First Lady, Dame Patience Jonathan and her predecessor over a plot of land in Federal Capital Territory.
In a press statement made available to newsmen on Friday, he said the crux of the matter is that the Federal Capital Administration in keeping with its mandate re-allocated a plot of land owned by the former First Lady, Turai Yar-Adua to the African First Ladies Peace Mission. African First Ladies Mission is an international institution affiliated to the African Union, AU.He said , it is a well known fact that Federal Capital Territory Administration moved to revoke the purported re-allocation as a legitimate action to rectify the anomaly in re-allocating a plot meant for public institution to a private organization. The former First Lady challenged the action of the FCTA in court after refusing several offers to secure an alternative plot in Phase One of the Federal Capital City for her non-governmental organization, Women and Youth Empowerment Foundation,added.
At this juncture, it will be pertinent to set the records straight Abubakar said adding “the litigation is an affair between the Federal Capital Territory Administration (FCTA) and Hajia Turai’s NGO. Neither the First Lady, Dame Patience Jonathan the president of the African First Ladies Peace Mission nor the African First Ladies Peace Mission was a party to the suit at the Abuja High Court.”
“While we appreciate the patriotic role of the media to educate and inform the public, we deploy the negative and yellow journalism that has crept into the journalism profession in Nigeria. In a bid to sell their newspapers, editors cast mischievous and wrong headlines daily thereby stoking the embers of disunity and acrimony in Nigeria.
“We admonish all men of good will to continue to support the First Lady as she complements the effort of her husband President Goodluck Jonathan in restoring peace and tranquility in Nigeria. Finally, we cannot afford to distract the first family.”
He noted that Dame Patience Jonathan has shown uncommon commitment to the welfare of children and the general enhancement of the parlous condition of women in Nigeria. “It was in the realization of this noble quality that the African First Ladies Peace Mission unanimously elected her the President of the association. Recently, under the able leadership of Dame Patience Jonathan, the African’s First Ladies Peace Mission donated 16 plane-load of relief materials to the victims of the violent conflict in Mali. The essence of this humanitarian gesture is to ameliorate the suffering of the people of Mali who are currently under the brunt of the civil strife.
“It is on record,” added “ that Dame Patience Jonathan, Nigeria’s First Lady has increased affirmative action in Nigeria through her advocacy for the increase of the number of women in elective and appointive position in Nigeria.”