First Lady Patience Jonathan has summoned an emergency meeting of the African First Ladies Peace Mission (AFLPM) for Abuja on May 15 —two weeks to the expiration of the Dr. Goodluck Jonathan administration’s tenure.
Tongues are wagging as to the need for such a meeting in the dying days of her husband’s administration. But in a notice sent to members, the First Lady said the meeting was summoned to prevent a situation where the executive, which she has been leading since 2000, will leave office unceremoniously.
It was not clear yesterday how much the meeting, which a source described as a jamboree, will cost and how it will be financed.
Two meetings – of the Executive Bureau and the Summit – will hold same day at the interim secretariat of the AFLPM in Abuja.
Apart from Nigeria, the other countries that make up the Executive Bureau are: South Africa, Sudan, Cameroon, Libya and Congo Brazaville.
Mrs Jonathan’s letter to the First Ladies recalled that at its third meeting in October 2014 in Pretoria, South Africa, the Executive Bureau agreed that the eighth summit will hold in July (this year) where a new president of the Mission is to be elected while the appointment of its Executive Secretary will be ratified.
She wrote: “The emergency summit is deemed crucial to ensure that we do not create a leadership vacuum in our esteemed organisation, as was the case in 2010 when my predecessor left the office suddenly without handing over to a successor.
“It has become necessary to convene an emergency meeting of the AFLMP to facilitate the smooth handover to a new executive committee that will pilot the affairs the peace mission for the next two years.
“With the recent election in my country and a new government coming on board from May 29, 2015 it has become necessary to hold the meeting.
“It is my desire to have in place a sustainable standard that will strengthen the peace mission and ensure effective mechanism to guarantee seamless take off for incoming leadership of our cherished organization.”