Patience Jonathan’s Forgotten Servants: Six Years Without Trial, Public Demands Justice

 

In 2015, Dame Patience Jonathan stood before a congregation at the Aso Rock Villa Chapel, her voice filled with emotion as she recounted how divine intervention spared her life. The former First Lady of Nigeria, in a moment of spiritual reflection, revealed she had undergone over a dozen surgeries, had once been pronounced clinically dead, and was miraculously brought back to life. Her story captured national attention—she spoke of betrayal, near-death, and ultimately, divine mercy.

But nearly a decade later, the same Patience Jonathan is at the center of a harrowing human rights controversy that many argue contradicts the compassion and forgiveness she once publicly embraced. According to credible reports, the former First Lady is alleged to have orchestrated the prolonged detention of 15 of her former domestic staff over accusations of theft. Since 2019, these individuals—many of them from impoverished backgrounds—have been imprisoned at the Okaka Custodial Centre in Bayelsa State without trial.

The list of detainees includes men and women such as Williams Alami, Vincent Olabiyi, Deborah Erema, and Sunday Reginald. Among them is even a woman who reportedly gave birth while in detention. In a heartbreaking video circulated online, a 90-year-old mother of one of the detainees, Deborah Erema, is seen sobbing uncontrollably as she pleads for her daughter’s release. “I don beg tire. If I die now, who go bury me? Nah only her I get,” she laments in a trembling voice that has shaken many who watched.

What compounds the public outrage is not just the fact that these former workers have been incarcerated without being tried in court, but that their alleged crime—stealing jewellery and valuables while the former First Lady was away for medical treatment—remains unproven. Legal and human rights advocates have criticized the prolonged detention as unconstitutional and inhumane.

“This is not just a miscarriage of justice; it is a denial of it,” a civil rights lawyer based in Lagos commented. “Even if the accused are guilty, the Nigerian constitution guarantees their right to a fair and speedy trial. What we are witnessing is punishment without process.”

Ironically, Patience Jonathan once credited her survival to the mercy of God, describing how she “died” during surgery but was miraculously revived. “God told me, my daughter, go back. I will give you a second chance,” she declared tearfully in 2015. She even acknowledged that people had predicted she would not survive her illness, likening her survival to a divine message.

Critics are now calling on her to show the same mercy to her former employees. “You cannot be a recipient of grace and yet deny others justice,” wrote a columnist who likened her actions to the biblical parable of the unforgiving servant in Matthew 18.

Beyond this incident, Patience Jonathan has previously faced scrutiny over financial controversies, including the ownership of millions of dollars allegedly linked to fraudulent transactions. In 2016, the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) charged her in relation to $15 million, which she claimed were gifts from friends. She also laid claim to $31.4 million in a separate case involving several front companies.

Despite these serious allegations, the Nigerian state appears to have quietly set those cases aside, further fueling the perception that the powerful are often treated differently under the law. This contrast between leniency at the top and harshness toward the powerless has not gone unnoticed.

Observers also recall the former First Lady’s involvement in political controversies during her husband’s presidency, particularly in Rivers State. Nobel Laureate Wole Soyinka once held former President Goodluck Jonathan “vicariously responsible” for the disruptive actions of his wife. Even Jonathan himself reportedly admitted in Olusegun Adeniyi’s political chronicle Against the Run of Play that the conflict between former Rivers Governor Rotimi Amaechi and the presidency stemmed more from Patience than from him.

Today, as 15 former aides remain behind bars with no end in sight, many Nigerians are asking: where is the mercy that once saved Patience Jonathan’s life?

The silence from the former First Lady has been deafening. While she remains within her legal rights to seek justice over alleged theft, the continued incarceration of these individuals without due process threatens to erase the narrative of grace and divine intervention she once so passionately shared.

As Nigerians call for her to temper justice with compassion, one thing is clear: in a country where the line between power and impunity often blurs, it is the voiceless who suffer the most.