MINISTER of Aviation, Ms Stella
Oduah, has taken the lobby to retain
her job to Israel, where she plans to
see President Goodluck Jonathan.
The minister, who was said to have
found it difficult to see the President
in Abuja since the scandal broke out,
was said to have also sent many
emissaries to speak with the
President on the matter.
Though official sources said Oduah
was in Israel to sign Bilateral services
agreement on behalf of Nigeria with
Israel.
It was gathered that she would use
the meeting to inform the President
that those mounting pressure on him
to sack her were his political enemies
who did not want him to contest the
presidential election in 2015.
A source close to Oduah said, “The
minister would use this argument to
sway the President to her side.
“She would inform the President not
to allow his enemies triumph over
him and should also know that if
those enemies succeed in pushing her
out, then many of the trusted aides of
the President would be the next
target.”
It was also gathered that the meeting
would also afford the minister the
opportunity to seek audience with the
National Security Adviser to the
President, Sambo Dasuki, who is one
of the members of the administrative
panel set up by the President to
investigate the minister. Sambo is
also in Israel.
The minister played an important role
during the 2011 presidential
campaign by overseeing Neighbour-
to-Neighbour , which was considered
to be one of the potent propaganda
arms of President Jonathan
campaign organisation was then.
She is said to have been also
pencilled down to play a more
important role in 2015 for the
President.
Apart from this, the minister was said
to have marshalled out some points
concerning the purchase of the
controversial vehicles.
One of which was that the documents
of the vehicles did not bear her name.
A statement signed by the
spokesperson for the Nigerian Civil
Aviation Authorities, Mr. Yakubu Datti
on Tuesday confirmed this.
Datti said, “No mention is made of
the fact that, of all the documents
paraded for the vehicles, none
mentioned the name of the Minister
of Aviation.
But the Special Adviser to the
President on Media and Publicity, Dr.
Rueben Abati said, Oduah decided to
travel to Israel ahead of the President
rather than waiting to be part of his
entourage, because presidential
delegation was usually divided into
segments.
He said in most of the trips, relevant
ministers were expected to travel
ahead in order to do the ground works
for the President and brief him on
arrival.
He said, “Presidential delegation is
divided into segments. The President
has a main body team that travels
with him. Some people can travel
ahead of him, it is not everybody that
can travel with him. How many
people can the presidential aircraft
carry?
“That the minister travelled ahead of
him is not an issue. Ministers usually
go ahead of the President to do
ground work, if there are meetings to
be done before the President’s arrival,
they would have done them. That is
how it is done.
“In many of these trips, there will be
pre-event meetings that ministers
would have attended so that when the
President comes, they will brief him.
This is not an issue.”
Abati also said that the Presidency
did not grant the NCAA any approval
to procure the controversial N255m
vehicles for the embattled minister.
In an interview with one of our
corespondents, Abati, dared the NCAA
to produce the approval if indeed
such existed.
“That is not true. If they have a
presidential approval, let them
produce it. People are just trying to
politicise the issue. The President has
already set up a panel to investigate.
That panel has the responsibility to
look at all issues that may come up
and all issues that have already
come up.
“I think people should stop
speculating. We should allow that
panel to do its job. We should not
politicise its work. What they can
remain assured of is that the
President is interested in the matter,”
Abati said.
http://www.punchng.com/news/aviation-minister-to-lobby-jonathan-in-israel/

Soon this matter will be swept under the carpet.