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Mrs. Jonathan’s misdemeanour, which still resonates more than a year after it happened, forced Governor Babatunde Fashola to lament, “Lagosians were needlessly inconvenienced….It dawned on me the need for public officers generally to be more sensitive to the people we serve. It is particularly worrisome that this (she) is not an elected person. I think we all must check how security agencies use the movement of high officers, especially VIPs, to disrupt citizens and taxt payers, whose money is used to fuel all the vehicles and all the apparatus that we use to block the roads against them. It should not get to the level that we closethe roads in the state because VIPs want to pass.”It cannot be said better. But not long after the ridiculous show of power in Lagos, Mrs. Jonathan headedfor Warri, Delta State, whereshe also caused hardship to residents through her security arrangements. Needless to say, these foul-ups compound gridlockson our roads. On a few occasions, the First Lady has also broken protocol. During President Goodluck Jonathan’s visit to the United States in September 2012, she breached protocolby disembarking from the aircraft before the President, and shaking hands with officials waiting on the tarmac while her husband was still coming down from the plane. The First Lady is setting a bad example for wives of governors. The position of the First Lady in the United States, from where the convention spread to other countries, isnot an elected one, carries no official duties, and attracts no salary. But it glows with much glamour andthe occupier is expected to handle the position with sublime grace. In the United Kingdom, the role of the Prime Ministerial Consort is not official and as such whoever occupies the office is not given a salary or official duties. Many of them prefer to remain very much in the background. Indeed, the late Denis Thatcher oncesummed up the role of the ideal prime ministerial spouse as “always present, never there.” This is the ideal. But operating under the loosely-defined, unconstitutional office of the “First Lady,” Mrs. Jonathan has been bringing the highest office in the land intodisrepute since her husbandassumed full duties as President in May 2010, by her public conduct. Her behaviour – when there is no reason for it – is leaving many citizens who have had their rights trampled on bitter but helpless. This is not the practice in civilised societies. The basic requirement of civilised democracy is that everyone plays by the rules and that the rules command public confidence. In October 2011, it was reported that a stunned 27-year-old Indian woman was so agitated that she enquired from David Cameron, who chose to travel in a tube train during rush hour, “Excuse me, are you the Prime Minister?” ThePrime Minister was reportedly travelling on the London Underground for an appointment. The United States’ security services offer maximum protection to Michelle Obama while, at the same time, causing minimal inconvenience to other motorists and citizens. It is as outrageous as it is gravely uncivilised for official cortèges to take pleasure in inflicting pains onthe people that such officialsclaim to be serving. The itinerary of the First Lady can be smoothly planned without compromising her safety andthe convenience of the citizens. Mrs. Jonathan mustrecognise that power is ephemeral and should learn from the past occupants of the office who history does not favourably remember because they did incalculabledamage to the image of the First Family. Fashola, who, as a governor, does not usesirens in his limited convoy, and does not harass other road users, offers a useful lesson in public morality and decorum. Even with the aura surrounding the office of President of the United States, whenever Barack Obama is visiting any part ofAmerica, information is fully circulated to the locality well ahead of time, and locals aregiven alternative routes thatcause minimum inconveniences to use. It is President Jonathan’s duty to caution his wife to stop this regime of offensiveillegality that has tainted the Presidency and presented Nigeria in a bad light.