The embattled Minister of Aviation, Ms Stella Oduah and her Principal President Goodluck Jonathan
The embattled Minister of Aviation, Ms Stella Oduah, has been linked to another car purchase scandal.
This time, Oduah is said to have also approved the procurement of two Lexus Limousine cars and two Toyota Prado jeeps.
The minister is expected to appear before the House Committee on Aviation which is investigating the purchase of two BMW bulletproof cars for her by the Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority at N255m.
But during the sitting by the Senate Committee on Aviation which is probing the crisis in the Aviation industry, the Managing Director of the Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria , Mr. George Uriesi, said the Lexus Limousine cars and Toyota Prado jeeps were in the custody of a bank.
Uriesi, who said the limousines were bought for N60m each , added that he did not have details of the cost of the Prado jeeps.
He explained that the bank whose name he did not give, funded the purchase of the four vehicles.
The FAAN chief told the six-member committee that while Oduah gave the approval, somebody whose name he failed to mention, signed on his (Uriesi) behalf.
An obviously enraged Chairman of the Senate Committee on Aviation, Mr. Hope Uzodinma, lambasted him for receiving approval from the minister instead of the Federal Executive Council.
He was therefore ordered to appear again before the committee on Monday with details of the transactions.
Uriesi, who was said to have sweated in the air-conditioned room while the session lasted, was also asked to bring along with him, details of other vehicles bought for the agency’s directors.
The Senate panel also resolved to inspect the N255m bulletproof cars parked at the Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport, Abuja.
Meanwhile, members of the House of Representatives Committee on Aviation are set to quiz Oduah on Wednesday(today) over the controversial bulletproof cars.
The minister, who was summoned by the committee to appear before it on Tuesday, had written , explaining that she had travelled to Israel to sign the Bilateral Air Service Agreement between Nigeria and Israel.
On Monday, the committee headed by Mrs. Nkeiruka Onyejeocha, said Oduah would now appear on Wednesday and not Tuesday as ealier scheduled.
It claimed that the decision was to give all stakeholders the opportunity to prepare their documents.
But the committee warned that it would not hesitate to take necessary actions against Oduah if she failed to turn up today (Wednesday).
As of 10pm on Tuesday, it was unclear if Oduah, who was on Monday accused by the House Committee on Public Procurement of shunning similar invitations 12 times, had returned from Israel.
As part of its preparations for the hearing, a five-member sub-committee of the Onyejeocha-led Aviation panel on Tuesday discreetly inspected the controversial bulletproof cars at the Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport, Abuja.
A source privy to the visit, informed The PUNCH that the aim was to “truly establish that the cars were bought.”
The source added, “This is an investigation and you do not leave anything to chance.
“The idea of the inspection team was to go to the location and physically see the cars.
“All these will form part of the final report to the House.”
When contacted, Onyejeocha confirmed that a team visited the airport to inspect the cars.
She, however, parried questions on the details of what the team saw.
The committee chairman said, “Yes, it is true that we set up a committee to go and inspect the cars.
“The committee went to the airport but they have not reported back to us.
“If you are interested, come to the hearing tomorrow, please, PUNCH.”
A senior official of the NCAA, who accompanied the sub-committee to the airport said the lawmakers “saw the two bulletproof cars .”
The source added, “They were satisfied. Some of them even stated that people were beginning to insinuate that there were no cars. So, I think people can now ask the House members whether there are cars or not.”
Asked if the committee members were also shown the limousines parked at the Total Radar Coverage of Nigeria site at the airport, the official said, “I don’t like joining issues, because people are beginning to write what they like.
“The cars we are talking about here are the bulletproof cars and not limousines.”
The House spokesman, Zakari Mohammed, said sanctions that could be imposed on Oduah if she failed to appear before the Aviation committee included issuing a bench warrant to facilitate her arrest.
He said, “What the committee will do is to apply to the Speaker (Mr. Aminu Tambuwal) for a bench warrant to be issued for her arrest.
“Once that is done and the speaker approves it, the Inspector-General of Police will be directed to arrest her and bring her before the committee.”
President Goodluck Jonathan may have placed the embattled Minister of Aviation, Ms. Stella Oduah, on “tactical suspension,” findings by The PUNCH have revealed.
A reliable Presidency source said Jonathan decided on the “tactical suspension,” hours before the signing of the Bilateral Air Service Agreement between Nigeria and Israel on Monday.
The Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Aviation, Mr. George Ossi, had on October 24 told the House of Representatives Committee on Aviation that Oduah led a Nigerian delegation to Israel to sign the BASA.
The House committee is probing the purchase of two bulletproof cars at a whopping N255m price by the Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority for the minister.
Our source explained that it was the ‘tactical suspension’ that made Jonathan to direct the Minister of State (1) for Foreign Affairs , Prof. Viola Onwuliri, to sign the agreement instead of Oduah.
When asked by one of our correspondents what ‘tactical suspension’ meant, he said, “Oduah will not be allowed to attend public functions that will have the President in attendance until the three-member committee set up to investigate the matter turns in its report.”
The source, who said he did not know whether the “tactical suspension” order had been formally communicated to the minister, stated that the step became necessary in order to dissuade Nigerians who hold the opinion that the President was shielding Oduah.
In what seemed a corroboration of the “tactical suspension,” the Special Adviser to the President on Political Matters, Mr. Ahmed Gulak, insisted that Jonathan would not associate with or shield anybody found to be corrupt.
He insisted during an interview with one of our correspondents on Tuesday, that the minister did not travel to Israel on the entourage of the President.
“Did you see them (Jonathan and the minister) together in Israel? The President will not associate or shield anybody found to be corrupt. That is why he set up that panel because he will not want to act based on media reports,” Gulak said.
Shortly before our source and Gulak spoke, the Presidency said the BASA was signed by Onwuliri because it was a matter bordering on foreign affairs.
The Special Adviser to the President on Media and Publicity, Dr. Reuben Abati, in an exclusive telephone interview with one of our correspondents, argued that there was no politics involved in Onwuliri signing the agreement on behalf of the government.
He said Nigerians should not reduce the matter to “the politics of political appointees who are all ultimately birds of passage.”
The President’s spokesman said Oduah did not only attend the signing ceremony but was also involved in framing the technical details of, and in preparing the agreement along with her Israeli counterpart.
He said it was when that was done, that the Foreign Ministries moved in at the level of G2 diplomacy.
Abati added, “The groundwork (for the agreement) was done by the Ministry of Aviation hence the involvement of the Aviation Minister, but this being a country-to-country agreement, more or less a treaty, it had to be signed by the Foreign Affairs Minister.
“It is also the convention in diplomacy to pair ministers. The Israelis brought their Deputy Foreign Affairs Minister, so we did the same. There was no politics involved and there is no doubt that it is within the provenance of the Foreign Ministry to sign agreements on behalf of the country.
“Let me add that BASA is about countries entering into an agreement.
“It is not about individuals. We must avoid the ridiculous temptation to reduce something that will promote good relations with a friendly nation to the politics of political appointees who are all ultimately birds of passage.”
When asked if the embattled minister was under “tactical suspension,” Abati replied, “She (Oduah was actually in attendance at the signing of the BASA . As I said, she was involved in framing the technical details of, and in preparing the agreement along with her Israeli counterpart. That done, the Foreign ministries moved in at the level of G2 diplomacy.”
Meanwhile, the ruling Peoples Democratic Party said on Tuesday that it was worried by the bulletproof car scandal.
Like, Gulak, it assured Nigerians that whoever was found culpable would face the law because it (PDP) would never condone any form of graft.
The party, however, wondered why the opposition All Progressives Congress was going into a frenzy over the scandal when its “governors and leaders have been involved in bulletproof car deals more scandalous than those in the Ministry of Aviation.”
In a statement by its National Publicity Secretary, Chief Olisa Metuh, the PDP said its position on corruption was unambiguous.
A part of the statement reads, “The position of our great party on corruption is unambiguous and our zero tolerance for corrupt practices abounds in practical examples.
“To us as a party, the accusation of corruption in the Aviation ministry is a big worry. It is for this reason that the President and the leader of our party has set up a panel to investigate the matter while the National Assembly which we also lead has stepped in.”
It frowned on the ethnic dimension which comments and street actions on the issue had taken and advised “ethnic lords, jingoists as well as lynch mobs “ to realise that biased sentiments could hardly achieve an objective basis for establishing the culpability of the public officers involved in the matter.”
The party then went for the jugular of the APC , saying it (APC) was not different from a white washed tomb.
The PDP described the APC as a stinking sepulchre and the headquarters of corruption in Nigeria.
It said, “This is a party whose leaders relish in stinking miasma but artfully turning a blind eye to it.
“They however go megaphonic when other political parties are involved.
“Hardly can you point at any of its leaders without a heavy baggage.
“In fact, the governors and leaders of the APC have been involved in bulletproof car deals more scandalous than those at the Aviation ministry but this is conspicuously missing on the sermon list of these false evangelists of good governance.”
It wondered why the trial of the Speaker of the Lagos State House of Assembly, Mr. Adeyemi Ikuforiji, for acts of corruption, had yet to be discussed by the APC leadership.
The PDP further contended that the stench of corruption oozing from the concession of the Lekki Toll Plaza and its debilitating effects on the electoral fortune of APC was the reason the Lagos State Government allegedly retrieved and paid off the firm that built the road.
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