• Says aides spoke in error
• I didn't grant waiver for
armoured cars — Okonjo-Iweala
ABUJA —MINISTER of Aviation, Princess
Stella Oduah, today, told members of the House of Representatives
Committee on Aviation that the BMW armoured cars that were allegedly
bought at a cost of N255m by the Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority,
NCAA, were not meant for her personal use.
Oduah disclosed this at the
investigative hearing on the controversy on a day the Minister of
Finance and Co-ordinating Minister for the Economy, Dr Ngozi
Okonjo-Iweala, clarified that she did not grant waivers for the
controversial armoured cars.
Princess Oduah also told the committee
that her media aides, who rose in her defence when the story broke by
saying the cars were meant for her security, actually spoke in error.
In her 12-page presentation to the
committee, she said: “As you all are aware, what necessitated this
public hearing were the events that followed a false and malicious
online publication that I had compelled the NCAA to purchase for me
two (2) nos BMW bullet proof cars at the cost of $1.6million.
“Let me state emphatically from the
onset that the allegation concerning the purchase of the two (2) nos
bullet proof cars for me by the NCAA is false in its entirety.”
After reading her presentation, Rep
Zakari Lafia Mohammed asked her whether it was a loan or lease that
her agency obtained from First Bank of Nigeria, and she said it was
the same, adding that the money NCAA would pay would still be below
the N240million at the end of the year.
On whether she acted within the ambits
of the law by giving approval beyond N100 million, she said she
approved the money and asked the NCAA to do the needful. The
committee and the Aviation Minister then engaged in an argument over
what she meant by "needful."
She had claimed that in her approval
she said “kindly do the needful." Rep Mohammed took her up by
suggesting that “saying the needful means a go-ahead to implement.
Responding, Oduah said: “No, you are
wrong on that, the needful does not mean full approval.”
My aides spoke in error—Oduah
On the defence put up by her media
assistants, the minister said both assistants were wrong to have
initially denied and also saying later the cars were bought for her
for security reasons. According to her, the confirmation the media
said they had was wrong. “As a matter of fact, their justification
and confirmation which they brandished is nothing but the erroneous
responses of my aides.”
She further said: “You may recall
that there have been attempts at clarifying issues pertaining to this
particular procurement. In the process, some of the issues were
further muddled up. I mention in this regard the first attempt at
clarifying the issue by the Coordinating Spokesperson for the
parastatals when he was first confronted with the allegation, without
recourse to the Minister or the Principal Officer of the Ministry and
its agencies, who described the information as a mere rumour.
.”This was followed by the statement
of my SA Media who was himself guided by his own perception of the
duties and challenges of my office and possibly, even the danger to
the person and office of the Minister. This is made evident by the
fact that his statement focused on my personal security and safety
without recourse to procurement process and policy file to which he
had no access.”
The NCAA D-G, Fola Akinkuotu was then
asked whether he did the needful, and he said he was not in-charge at
NCAA when the order was given for the purchase.
Also, Permanent secretary of the
ministry, George Ossi was then taken to task for allegedly
misleading the minister by not advising her appropriately.
The committee said the permanent
secretary ought to have asked the NCAA to do the right thing. The
permanent secretary, however, claimed that due diligence ought to
have been done by the agency before applying for approval. He claimed
that he was not available at the time everything happened. The D-G
also said he would have followed the Procurement Act if he was the
one the directive was given to do the needful. He said the acting
D-G, Joyce Daniel Nkemakolam ought to explain why he did not do that.
In his evidence, Nkemakolam said: “We
interpreted the directive to mean to go through it in line with the
Procurement Act”. He said due diligence was followed but they had a
mindset that they were within the budget limits.
But when he was asked why he didn’t
follow due diligence to ensure that it was in tandem with the
procurement law, he said he thought since the agency had got the
approval of the National Assembly, there was no need for such
diligence. He was also asked why he initiated a memo to approve 54
vehicles when what the National assembly approved was 25 vehicles. He
was reminded that what was approved was N240million and not
N643million.
NCAA was further asked whether the
board sought approval of the President to approve the car loan.
Nkemakolam said he was working on the mindset that they were still
within the approved limit explaining that what NCAA discussed with
First Bank was a lease. He was asked whether the NCAA board approved
the money and he said the NCAA has interim board and that he was
working on account that it was a lease and not loan.
Drama in the house
The drama continued with Rep Manwe
asking the former DG of NCAA to disclose who uses the controversial
bullet-proof cars since the minister bluntly confessed that they were
not bought for her use.
It was one question that got him
jolted as minutes passed before he could provide an answer. And when
he finally found his voice, he said: “Anybody can use the vehicles
when they are in the pool. They are operational vehicles.”
But the lawmaker wouldn’t give up. He
continued with a rider to the question. “Do you mean that a
messenger or cleaner in the agency can use the cars?”
At this juncture, there was dead
silence in the hearing room, with the D-G losing his voice for the
second time. And when again, he found it, he answered this way:
“Those categories of vehicles are for VIPs which include the
minister, including you, the honourables.”
Just then a blast of laughter erupted
in the hall which to some extent provided some comic relief to
everyone. But Rep Manwe wouldn’t stop. He asked again: “Can we
have the log book of the movement of the car?"
In a subdued voice, the D-G answered:
“I am not a transport officer. I don’t know whether they are
still keeping those log books.”
When it now became obvious that the D-G
had exhausted all the answers he had, the lawmakers mandated the
agency to bring the man who received the vehicles at the point of
delivery by Coscharis Motors.
In her closing remark, the chairperson,
Onyejeocha assured Nigerians that justice would be done to the
report of the hearing.
“Fact speaks for itself. We have
tried to listen to people — Coscharis, the minister, NCAA, First
Bank, BPP and Customs, and we have their submissions with us. We will
consider what we have whether it is in line with extant laws and
financial regulations. We assure everyone and all Nigerians that we
will do justice to this hearing,” Onyejeocha said.
Speaking with some journalists shortly
after the hearing, the minister, Oduah expressed gratitude to the
National Assembly for giving her an opportunity to present her own
side of the story.
I didn’t grant waiver for amoured
cars
—Okonjo-Iweala
Meanwhile, Co-ordinating Minister for
the Economy and Minister of Finance, Dr. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, has
denied granting waiver for the clearing of the armoured cars.
Dr. Okonjo-Iweala said in a statement
issued by her Senior Special Assistant, Mr. Paul Nwabuikwu, in Abuja,
that she only granted waiver for the clearing of cars to be used for
2012 National Sports Festival, EKO 2012, hosted by the Lagos State
Government.
According to her, it was the Lagos
State Government that applied for waivers for the importation of the
vehicle for the festival, as contained in a letter dated June 23,
2012. She explained that the waiver affected Coscharis Motors Nigeria
Ltd, only in relation to its being the official partner for the
supply of automobiles for the sports festival and no more. The
statement read in full:
“Recent media reports which claim
that the Federal Ministry of Finance granted a waiver to Coscharis
Motors Nigeria Ltd for the purchase of armoured cars are totally
false and without foundation.
“Rather, on June 23, 2012, the Lagos
State Government applied for Waiver of Destination Inspection Charges
and Duty Exemptions for Coscharis Motors Nigeria Ltd, the official
Automobile Partner for the National Sports Festival (“EKO 2012”),
to purchase 300 vehicles on its behalf for the event.
“Since the Lagos State Government met
the laid-down criteria, the waiver was granted.
“It is also important to clarify that
the waiver granted to the Lagos State Government for the event did
not include the purchase of armoured vehicles”.
Police disperse pro-Oduah protesters in
Abuja
A new dimension was added to the
armoured cars saga, yesterday, in Abuja when the Police dispersed a
group of women who staged a solidarity march for Stella Oduah. The
women who numbered about 50 had stormed the Federal Secretariat, to
protest against what they alleged was the continued harassment of
Oduah.
They had had arrived the Federal
Secretariat chanting solidarity songs in support of Oduah with
placards of different inscriptions.
Some of the placards read “Leave
Stella Oduah alone” “Stella has transformed the aviation sector.”
Speaking to journalists during the
protest the leader of the group who identified herself as Rita Obu
and President of Goodluck Jonathan Women Support Group alleged that
there was an attempt by Stella Oduah’s political opponents to
frame her up in the same manner they framed up Patricia Etteh,
former Speaker of the House of Representatives. Etteh was forced to
resign in 2007 over a scandal that erupted in the sixth assembly of
the House. She was later exonerated of any wrongdoing by the lower
Chamber of the National Assembly.
Commenting on the allegation that the
Aviation Minister abused her office by pressurizing the Nigeria Civil
Aviation Authority NCAA to purchase the cars for her use, the leader
of the group asked: “Is Stella Oduah the only minister or public
officer for whom bullet-proof cars have been bought in this country?”
She continued: “What her male
political opponents have done is to frame her up.
Whenever, any woman is appointed into
any high office in this country, the men would go and rake up untidy
things about her for the purpose of bringing her down. They should
leave her alone”.
In response to a reporter’s question
she asked “Have the men exposed other political office holders who
are also riding bullet-proof cars ?”
“Have male political office holders
who are using bullet-proof cars been removed from office?”
“I want all these questions answered”
she said.
According to her: “I am not saying it
is good or not good for top government officials to be driven in
bullet proof cars.”
What has been done to others who are
being driven around in security cars?” she asked.
She said she didn’t want to mention
names but was aware that other ministers and even governors were
being driven in bullet proof cars.
In response to another question about
public outrage over the cost of the cars, she retorted “The cost
of security cars bought for other past top government officers was
also too high”.
She maintained that all other top
government officials should also present their bullet proof cars for
probe.
She denied that the group was sponsored
by the Aviation Minister to embark on the protest adding that the
group’s major goal was to protect the interest of women.
She cautioned President Goodluck
Jonathan against sacking the Aviation Minister adding that it would
be tantamount to partiality on his part.
She linked the agitation for the sack
of Princess Oduah as part of a plot by a cabal to destabilize the
Jonathan administration.
Another group which identified itself
as the Grassroot Movement for Unity and Stability also participated
in the protest alongside the women.
In a press release circulated at the
venue of the protest and signed by the group’s National
Coordinator, Edisemi Yiki, the group declared that “our society
will die the day men and women of good conscience choose to remain
silent in the face of cheap baseless blackmail which cannot be proved
beyond reasonable doubt” .
According to the group: “We are
concerned that certain persons have constituted themselves into a
secret cabal with the sole aim to undermine and rubbish the
developmental efforts of the Aviation Minister.”
The group further stated that some of
the present administration’s enemies see Oduah “as a threat come
2015 especially because her political machine known as door-to-door
contributed to President Jonathan’s victory at the 2011 polls”.
