Minister of Aviation, Stella Oduah has been given a 72-hour ultimatum to resign her position and refund the N255 million spent by the Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA) to purchase two bullet-proof cars for her.
Civil rights group, Anti-Corruption Network (ACN), which made the call in Abuja on Friday during a press briefing on Friday, threatened to institute a legal suit to challenge the minister’s abuse of office should she stay in office beyond the stipulated three days.
Speaking at the briefing, Executive Secretary of the group and former member of the House of Representatives, Chief Dino Melaye stated that the reaction of President Goodluck Jonathan to this latest case of this fiscal extravagance by one of his staunch cabinet members would reveal his readiness to truly combat graft.
“If it were to be during Obasanjo or Yar’Adua, the minister would have been fired. We are waiting to see what the president will do as well as the National Assembly,” Melaye said.
“We are giving the minister 72 hours to resign and refund the money spent to the government confers. Failure to do so, we will mobilise Nigerians to protest this abuse of office. If by Thursday they don’t comply with our demands, we will file a suit in court against them and against the ministry, as well as the parastatal that bought the cars under question.
“Our lawyers are looking at our books to ensure that we file this suit by Thursday next week. We must take our destiny in our hands. No one will stop us. Enough is enough. We will use the case of Oduah as an acid test against all corrupt practices in this country.”
Melaye described the purchase of the two bullet proof cars under any guise as an affront on the millions of undergraduate students whose schools have been shut for nearly four months due to the infrastructure decay in the country’s public institutions.
“The action of the aviation minister is not only callous, inhuman and reprehensible but also one that flew from the pit of hell,” he went on.
“No ministry or agency is allowed to spend money not appropriated. The posers we have for the minister is, was the money for the purchase of the cars budgeted for by the National Assembly? Did the Bureau of Public Enterprise clear the purchase? Or did Stella Oduah obtain certificate of no objection? These are many more posers the honourable minister should provide answers to.
“However, in the absence of satisfactory answers, what can be deduced is that, it is either the NCAA alleged to have procured the cars hoodwinked the public by under declaring its Internally Generated Revenue to raise the money, or the minister purchased it from the proceeds of the kick-back from the renovation of the country’s airports.”
However, a statement by Special Assistant to the President on Constitution and Legal Matters, Barrister Ahmad Ali Gulak has confirmed that President Jonathan is standing by the embattled minister despite the outrage that has greeted the N225 million purchase of the cars.
“Mr President is satisfied with the good work of the aviation minister and the transformation of the aviation sector,” Gulak said.
“The cars are not the personal property of the minister but that of the office of Aviation Minister; no cost is too high to protect public officers who are carrying out desired changes.”
