Society Gists

This story is not about the competence of President Jonathan who we hold in high esteem as one of the best presidents Nigeria has ever had. It is a story of a rumor that has grown larger than life and our investigative efforts in SocietyGists.com to bury or authenticate it.

PRESIDENT GOODLUCK EBELE(AZIKIWE) JONATHAN(PhD):
Nigeria’s president Goodluck Jonathan, was born on November 20 1957  in the village of Otuoke  in present day Bayesla State of Nigeria. He passed through Primary and Secondary School at Bayelsa before going on to University Of Port Harcourt for his first degree certificate in Zoology he will later go for the compulsory National Youth Service Co, a program designed after the civil war to encourage national integration and pass young graduates through basic military training.
Prior to going for his University education, he had a two year stint at the Nigerian Customs Service with his high school certificate. Eventually, he will return to the same University of Port Harcourt for his Masters and PHD program.
In the mid nineties during the regime of Nigeria’s maxim ruler General Sani Abacha, Bayelsa State was carved out from the Old Rivers State and became a new state under the federal republic of Nigeria.
In 1999 at the dawn of the Fourth republic Goodluck Jonathan will have his first taste at politics when a traditional ruler in  Bayelsa took him to the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) flag bearer and later the Executive Governor Chief Diepriye Alameseigha and requested that Jonathan join the ticket as a Deputy Governor candidate. The rest is history. Within ten years, the President will see an unprecedented rise from the Deputy Governorship to the Presidency.
Much of his private life however still remained a mystery, especially his  family life.

FIRST LADY DAME PATIENCE IBIFAKA JONATHAN:
Was born at  Oba-Ama in Okrika of Rivers State in October 25 1957. She went through her primary and secondary education all in Rivers State.
After her Secondary education she went to the River State College of Education to obtain the National Certificate of Education(NCE) in Mathematics and Biology and after some years went back to University of Port Hacourt where she obtained a Degree in Psychology and Biology. With her certificate she got a teaching job at Stella Maris College in Port Harcourt. All through her life she has shown the doggedness and required skills of a born entrepreneur and she was quite successful in all her endeavors! She was known as a kind but no nonsense woman. She was very good at keeping confidences and this trait helped her when she decided to leave teaching for Banking. Her first stint at Banking was when she opened a Community Bank in Port Harcourt, the Akpo Community Bank after she left Imieto community Bank as its head of Marketing.
Her love story with the President started when she went for her NCE certificate at the Rivers State College of education.
Then Goodluck Jonathan was one of her lectures in the School. It was a student – lecturer love affair and initially they did not take it serious. They however did not consummate  the relationship until she left the College as a graduate. According to her,
”We first met at the Rivers State College of Education, Port Harcourt where I was a student. He was my Biology lecturer.Later; he left for university of Port Harcourt to pursue his PhD. We met again at the University of Port Harcourt when I went for undergraduate degree. That was where our relationship began. He took interest in me because I was a brilliant and smart student.
It was love at first sight on his part. But it never crossed my mind that it would lead to a serious relationship. My first impression of him was this tall, dark, hansome young man.
Further interaction with him also revealed that he came from a good Christian home just like I did. His humble and gentle disposition caught my attention and most importantly, his intelligence.”

The real story is somewhat different. She was not impressed with his laid back approach to life though she really liked his intelligence and maturity in handling issues. According to those who knew them then, there were regular personality clashes and some of their friends did not bet on the success of their relationship.  Eventually, love and understanding won and they decided to get married. To Mr president , “what stood her out was her deep commitment to me and her love and loyalty and for that any man can do anything”.
Sources close  to them cited the embarrassing times they both shared especially well known instance  she stood by him when he defaulted on rent payment and their landlord threw their things outside in a classic show of shame.  It was Dame Patience that encouraged and fought gallantly by him to restore his confidence.  

THE CHILDREN CONTROVERSY
Almost all the sources we interacted with agreed that there are four Children instead the two popularly shown by the press. They also confirm that the  known children of Mr President Ariwera Adolphus Jonathan and Aruabi Jonathan are not biological children! Both of them were adopted after the couple have waited several years to no avail to have children.
SocietyGists.com got across to a  native of Otuoke who didn’t want his name in print to confirm these story. The man confirmed indeed that Mr President has not TWO but FOUR children to his name: two adopted and two biological albeit not through First Lady Dame Patience Jonathan. 

Further investigation revealed that about five four years after the wedding with no issue forthcoming, His Excellency Goodluck Jonthan came under tremendous pressure to dump his wife.   He resisted well until   the daughter of a reknowned Lawyer and former Bayelsa State Attorney General’s Chief F.D. LOTT came into the picture. The matter was not helped at all by the hawks from the Presidents side, who kept insisting that  Goodluck Jonathan must try other options. Eventually, Jonathan succumbed and the relationship blossomed. It produced two boys. A desperate Patience still fought on for her husband’s love and later she succeeded in convincing Jonathan to keep the children but not the woman. All this was before  the President’s foray into politics. When Jonathan became the Deputy Governor, the lady tried to muscle her way back to Jonathan’s heart using her two sons as a bargaining chip to tie Goodluck’s hand but she met a resolute Jonathan and a fiery patience. 

That was how the idea to adopt came. Ariwera Adolphus  Jonathan and Aruabi were adopted in Port Harcourt(some Sources say Lagos) from a Motherless babies home. Meanwhile Lotts daughter relocated permanently to Yenagoa in the hope of a reconciliation with the Jonathan’s. By now. Jonathan  was the Executive Governor of Bayelsa State and the First Lady Dame Patience Jonathan started to throw her weight around and make life difficult for the lady. As news got to Jonathan concerning the sorry state of the mother of his biological children, he quickly rallied and sent her to the United States of America with her boys and they been there since then. Her father who was appointed a member of the governing council of Niger Delta University in Bayelsa serves as a Liaison between her and the president.