Policeman, 2 Women Collapse At Patience Jonathan’s
Rally In Benin
Published on March 14, 2015 by pmnews · No Comments
Jethro Ibileke/Benin
Patience Jonathan
No fewer than three persons, including a policeman and two women collapsed on Saturday at the Samuel Ogbemudia stadium in Benin, after waiting for several hours in the scorching sun for Dame Patience Jonathan who was to address women groups under the auspices of Women for Change for Development Initiative, ahead of the 28 March presidential election.
The victims who apparently collapsed from exhaustion, were immediately taken away in stretchers from the stadium to a nearby Ambulance Van for medical attention.
Several other women who were tired of standing after a long wait, were also seen sitting on the hot astro turf at the stadium.
Mrs. Jonathan who was scheduled to arrive Benin at 8:00 a.m. did not show up at the stadium until 1:35 p.m. by which time many of the women had left.
The wife of the president while addressing the scanty crowd of women remaining at the stadium when she finally arrived, said her husband has performed well in office and stressed that God that made him President would see to his re-election., saying, “Goodluck asked me to go and tell them Goodluck is coming back again, PDP is coming back again.”
She insisted that her husband must be allowed to do a second term of office, adding that, “other presidents have served for eight years. Now is our turn. Constitution provides two tenure of eight years. Why is our own different?”
In apparent reference to the All Progressives Congress (APC) candidate, General Buhari, Dame Jonathan said: “they were in Aso Rock before, what did they forget that they want to go and take?”
Mrs. Jonathan who seemed not comfortable with the anti-corruption campaign of the APC and the way the issue of corruption has dominated the political space, wondered if corruption has a different meaning in Nigeria.
“Abroad if people work hard and buy planes they are commended, but in Nigeria, no matter the business you do, if you buy a plane, you are corrupt,” she said.
She therefore called on women and the people of Edo state to vote en-masse for President Jonathan to enable him continue his good works, even as she promised women more appointments if her husband was re-elected.
Three youths were also apprehended by other youths while removing the First Lady’s posters at the stadium. Two of them were however handed over to the police after they were beaten, while the third escaped.
The boys who claimed to be PDP members said they were angered by the meagre amount paid them by organisers of the event after they were mobilised to work at the stadium.
