S’East Senators Tackle Omotoba over Enugu Airport
[b]From Christopher Isiguzo in Enugu, 12.07.2009
Monday, December 7, 2009

Deputy Senate President, Ike Ekweremadu yesterday dismissed the recent statement credited to the Aviation Minister, Babatunde Omotoba to the effect that the Akanu Ibiam airport has not been designated as an international airport by the Federal Government, saying that the minister was being economical with the truth.


Ekweremadu’s remark is coming even as the South East Caucus of the Senate has vowed to pursue the internationalisation of the Enugu Airport to a logical conclusion, insisting that since President Umaru Musa Yar’Adua had already approved the new status of the airport, it remains irreversible.


Briefing newsmen in Enugu yesterday, the Deputy Senate President, described the statement by the Aviation Minister as not only misleading and mischievous but was intended to paint lawmakers from the zone who made concerted efforts to prevail on the president to approve the airports new status in bad light.


“I want to believe that the minister was misquoted by the media because as the aviation minister, he ought to know that the President had since 2007 approved that the airport be upgraded to an international airport. We are not disturbed because we are already done with that and are currently facing other important issues that affect the people of the south east zone,” he stated.


On its part, the South East caucus of the Senate in a statement issued by Senate Committee Chairman on Information and Media, Ayogu Eze noted that the statement from the Aviation Minister came to them as a shock.


“That statement came to us as a shock because when the caucus of the senators of the South East went to see the President, he said he didn’t know there was no international airport in the south east zone and promised us that he as going to do something about it,’ he said.

Subsequently, we wrote to him and he acknowledged and wrote to the Aviation Minister directing that the airport should be made an international airport.

“It is unfortunate that this has become another thing today, but be that as it may, we are not relaxing on our oars, we are sourcing for airlines that will come and make Enugu a hub and then convert it to an international status, because all over the world, it is airlines that own airports. It is only in Nigeria here that we find government owning airports. So we are making effort to ensure that we get airlines that will make Enugu a hub and then bring the fund and necessary infrastructure that will make it international.

“I believe that it is very unfair and rather unfortunate that Nigerian people have continued to treat the South East as if we are the underdogs of Nigeria and that is completely unfortunate and if you see the way they speak about Enugu not being an international airport, they speak about it with a lot of interest and we have taken it up, we see it as a challenge, we are going to make sure that we surmount that challenge and make Enugu an international airport, with or without the support of the Federal Executive Council because I suspect there is a conspiracy to make sure that that project does not become realistic and we are going to make every effort to surmount that conspiracy,” the statement read in part.

It would be recalled that the Aviation Minister had while flagging off the N4.1 billion contract for the upgrading of the Akanu Ibiam airport in Enugu declared that only four airports were international airports in Nigeria, he named the airports to include, Abuja, Lagos, Kano and Port-Harcourt airports.[/b]

http://nigeriaworld.com/cgi-bin/axs/ax.pl?http://odili.net/news/source/2009/dec/7/209.html

Again,  a Yoruba is the one putting clogs in the wheel of progress of Ndigbo. We are watching and taking notes. Yaradua should just fire that jackass for flouting a presidential recommendation/pronouncement. I look forward to another case of Oluwole Rotimi versus Ojo Maduekwe.

well the minister is just blabbing , ihiala airport was international airport,plane land there without light during the war,yet no crash recorded.
we will overcome this ethnic rubbish a whole south east dont have international airport,that man is what somebody call him.

Who's this this Omotoba? Ministers leading the country with lies. Some of their lies are:

VISION 2020

6000 MEGAWATTS OF ELECTRICITY IN NEXT TWO WEEKS

ZERO TOLERANCE ON CORRUPTION

REBRANDING PROJECT

AND LOTS MORE.