Dear Mrs. April Omodu Kamara Jagaban,
I write to you not to diminish your ambition, your support for your husband, or your right to be celebrated by those who admire you. I write because the recent images and videos of your arrival in the United Kingdom, crowds in T-shirts bearing your photograph and name, amid loud jubilation at the airport, have raised a question that Sierra Leone cannot afford to ignore: what kind of First Lady do you intend to become?
That scene reminded many Sierra Leoneans of the public style of the current First Lady, Fatima Maada Bio: red-carpet arrivals, adoring crowds, branded T-shirts, and a constant staging of personal celebrity.
It is a style that has generated applause, but it has also turned the office of First Lady from a platform of service into a theatre of self-glorification for Fatima Bio.
Fame is not service
There is nothing wrong with being visible. A First Lady should be seen, heard, and engaged. But visibility must serve the people, not the person.
Sierra Leone’s women and girls do not need a famous First Lady; they need a compassionate First Lady.
They need someone whose priority is not the size of the crowd at an airport, but the girl who cannot remain in school because of poverty, early marriage, or sexual violence. They need someone who measures success not by photographs, slogans, and international applause, but by whether vulnerable women have protection, dignity, justice, education, healthcare, and economic opportunity.
Fatima Maada Bio has built a highly visible public profile around advocacy for women and girls. She has become the ultimate famous First Lady. But her fame has had little impact on ordinary women and girls; this fame has only produced impact for her personal status and wealth.
I say this as a caution. You are entitled to admire anyone you choose. But if what you admire in Fatima Bio is her pursuit of dominance, superiority, political control, and personal fame, then she is not a good model for the position you aspire to one day hold.
Sierra Leone has already seen how the cult of personality around a First Lady can grow. It begins with celebratory crowds and branded shirts. But as we have seen in Fatima Bio’s tenure, it can become interference in party politics, marginalization of women who will not submit to her personal agenda, and the dangerous belief that power belongs only to her and those around her, rather than to the people.
That is why I wrote to Fatima Bio in June 2018, warning that girls and women needed a compassionate First Lady rather than a famous one. That warning remains relevant today. And it is why I write to you now, as a woman who aspires to occupy the position, while you still have the opportunity to choose a different path.
Power is an Amanah
As a fellow Muslima, I remind you of a truth our faith teaches clearly: political power is not personal property. It is an Amanah, a sacred trust. If your husband becomes President in 2028, and if you become First Lady, your influence will not belong to you. It will be entrusted to you on behalf of the Sierra Leonean people.
The Qur’an reminds us that the ultimate home is reserved for those who do not seek superiority on earth or corruption: That home of the Hereafter We assign to those who do not desire exaltedness upon the earth or corruption. And the outcome is for the righteous. Surah Al-Qasas (28:83).
A First Lady who uses borrowed power to dominate others, silence women, pursue wealth, or demand reverence has betrayed that trust.
A First Lady who uses power to lift others, especially the poorest women and girls, honours it.
Choose a Different Path
Mrs. Jagaban, you still have time to choose differently. Do not allow the excitement of campaigns, crowds, and cameras to confuse applause with purpose.
If you aspire to the office of First Lady, let your ambition be defined by:
- Humility, not superiority.
- Service, not spectacle.
- Empowerment, not control.
- Accountability, not entitlement.
- Compassion, not Fame.
Let your name be associated not with T-shirts and airport crowds, but with girls who stayed in school, women who escaped violence, widows who found economic independence, and citizens who felt that the highest office in the land treated them with dignity.
A final word
I do not wish to write another book about a First Lady consumed by “First Lady Syndrome.” I would much rather write, or better still, read, about a First Lady who quietly transformed the lives of Sierra Leone’s women and girls.
But let me be candid: if you choose the path of Fatima Bio’s fame-seeking, domination, and entitlement, I have an ISBN waiting for the book I will write about you.
Choose humility, Mrs. Jagaban. Sierra Leone does not need another famous First Lady. It needs a compassionate one.
Sincerely,
Dr. Fatima Babih
A concerned Sierra Leonean
