ENUGU STATE GOVT HOUSE AS A PSYCHIATRIC FACILITY : Enugu Govt House: A Mental Hospital? ... Tonnie Iredia (VanguardNews)

The week which ended yesterday no doubt put Enugu State Governor, Sullivan Chime, prominently in the news and once again, it was for the wrong reason. His wife, Clara, made several damaging allegations against him which were publicised by the media. According to the story, the lady’s fundamental human right on basic issues such as freedom of association and of movement had been breached by her husband for longer than she could bear.She also claimed to have been a victim of forced imprisonment. In his response, Governor Chime insists that whatever actions he has taken have been in the interest of his wife. From the lady’s version of her state of depression and the governor’s diction at a press briefing on the subject, it is apparent that the lady has a peculiar medical challenge.What is not clear however is why Mrs Clara Chime has to be a patient within the precincts of the Government House – does the place also double as a mental home? Before going into the details of what has been made public so far about the subject, it seems expedient to first dismiss the viewpoint that seeks to describe the matter as a purely matrimonial, private and domestic issue. Of course, the health challenges of an ordinary Nigerian and those of his family are private matters but not so as that of the governor of a state. Governor Chime, his wife and their children are not ordinary people. They are the first family of Enugu State and although their supposed breadwinner has a handsome salary, they are in addition housed and fed by the state ‘free of charge’. Matters concerning them especially those which filter out to the public can thus not be classified as private.


Clara Chime, Sullivan Chime and Mr Femi Falana, SAN

Again, ours is a nation where many first ladies with the active connivance of their spouses appropriate unto themselves, the power to run illegal offices with public funds. For a typical first lady, the rest of us are often shoved off the roads by security agents to let the privileged enjoy monopoly of our collective public space. If one of such special persons cries out against forced imprisonment, it is not just a matter of public interest but one which newsroom operatives in our days would call ‘Level 17 News’! Interestingly, many of our political leaders are not quite proficient at handling pieces of such VIP news. The case of the late President Yar’Adua aside, not many would forget in haste how Presidency officials fed Nigerians with fake news on the health of first lady, Patience Jonathan until she herself publicly explained that she resurrected severally.The present case of Governor Chime’s wife is particularly curious as the governor is fast gaining popularity as a man who cherishes to shroud in unnecessary secrecy anything he does. For instance, what is called uncommon transformation elsewhere obtains in Enugu without propaganda. Chime’s conservative policy of “silence is golden” is worse in health matters. From September last year till almost 6months later, the whereabouts of Chime himself caused so much public disquiet. He had allegedly gone on what was called ‘extended’ leave- an unspecified long period that generated speculations.According to the caption of one newspaper, it was “Enugu without Chime: Intrigues without end”. While some lawmakers threatened to move against the governor over his prolonged absence, the conference of opposition parties in the state launched a campaign to rally public support for the governor’s impeachment. The official response from the state government was that the governor was hale and hearty and was merely enjoying a well-deserved vacation. It was only when Governors Amaechi of Rivers, Suswan of Benue and Akpabio of Akwa Ibom visited Chime in London that we all got to know that his absence from Enugu was due to ill-health.Governor Chime was to confirm later when he surfaced that he had been treating cancer. At that point, the governor was disturbed about the high degree of misinformation on his health which he attributed to mischief makers. He neither appreciated his own contributory negligence nor the rationale that speculations are a logical consequence of lack of information. Hence, during the week of the current controversies on his wife ill-health, the governor again sought to blame mischief makers by recalling that those who said he died earlier in India never knew he did not go that way. Would people have imagined that; if as a public property, he had allowed the public to know where he was?What is special about a governor having cancer? Does being a governor preclude a man or his family from being human? If not, what then is extraordinary about Clara Chime, the wife of the governor of Enugu State falling ill? Rather than do the necessary, Governor Chime allowed gossips and rumours with their attendant ill-will to flow into his wife’s illness until well-meaning persons and institutions rose up to the occasion.First, the nation’s most proactive news outfit-channels television, for more than 2 consecutive days in the week, deprecated the dehumanizing stories coming out of Enugu government house without any response. Second, Femi Falana-the ordinary man’s lawyer since after Gani Fawehinmi had to make some constructive noise too. Third, the National Human Rights Commission had to publicly demand access to Clara Chime. These forced the governor to organize a rather poorly rehearsed press briefing where he said something like “na me get my wife; na me know how to treat am”Whoever told the governor that the health challenge of his wife is one that can derogate from the public image of his high office and as such should be covered up is mean. The same is true of the unprofessional medical option adopted. Even if many people have mental problems in Enugu, Chime cannot justify the establishment of a psychiatric hospital within government house. Accordingly, any such hospital therein for Clara is illogical. Last September, the governor travelled miles away in search of the best treatment for himself when he was down; it is time now for him to also seek for the very best for Clara Chime, the incumbent first lady and mother of Enugu people.