₦airaland Forum

Stella Oduah N225m Car Scam: Dino Melaye Arrested Again

Posted: November 4, 2013 - 19:21

Posted by siteadmin
Former House of Representatives member now anti-corruption crusader, Dino Melaye, was today re-arrested.

Two weeks ago, he was seized by policemen at a rally in Abuja he organized against the Minister of Aviation, Stella Oduah, concerning her part in the ongoing N255 million scandal in the Ministry.

Sources say Mr. Melaye, who leads a group called the Anti-Corruption Network which has been revealing and attacking official corruption, was taken from his office by police officers who brandished a warrant of arrest. It is also understood that his home had previously been searched.

Our source said Mr. Melaye is likely to face charges, based on a copy of his arrest warrant obtained by Saharareporters.

http://saharareporters.com/news-page/stella-oduah-n225m-car-scam-dino-melaye-arrested-again

"Imprisoned" Enugu First Lady, Clara Chime, Hires Falana To Secure Her Release
Posted: November 4, 2013 - 15:53
Posted by siteadmin

caption: Enugu First Lady, Clara Chime

By SaharaReporters, New York
Human rights lawyer Femi Falana has asked the Inspector-General of Police, Mr. MD Abubakar, to ensure the immediate release from unlawful detention of Mrs. Clara Chime, the First Lady of Enugu State who is being held hostage at Government House Enugu by Governor Sullivan Chime, or be dragged to court.

In a letter dated November 1, 2013, Mr. Falana, representing Mrs. Chime, pointed out that his client has been kept incommunicado in solitary confinement for over four months on the directives of Governor Chime.

“Thus our client’s fundamental rights to the dignity of her person, personal liberty, fair hearing, private and family life and freedom of movement guaranteed by the Constitution and the African Charter on Human and People’s Rights (Ratification and Enforcement) Act, Laws of the Federation of Nigeria 2004 have been violated without any legal justification,” it said.

“Although our client’s dehumanizing detention conditions have had deleterious effects on her psychological state as well as her mental and physical health she has been denied access to her doctors by her abductors,” the petition said. “It is particularly disturbing to note that some of the police and state security service personnel assigned to secure the safety of the Enugu State governor, his wife and other family members have aided and abetted Mr. Chime in subjecting our client to egregious infringements of her aforesaid fundamental rights.”

It pointed out, however, that unlike the governor who is currently immune from prosecution under the constitution, the police and state security service officials involved in the illegal arrest and detention of Mrs. Chime ought to be sanctioned under the relevant laws.

In a letter exclusively published by SaharaReporters on October 28, Mrs. Chime complained that Governor Chime had placed her under house arrest, and begged human rights bodies to come to her rescue.

She said that eminent personalities such as President and Mrs. Goodluck Jonathan and the Bishop Callistus Onaga of Enugu State and other top priests had attempted to intervene in the matter without success.

Among other things, Mrs. Chime said she had been introduced to two psychiatrists, Dr. Onwukwe and Dr. Agumo, who prescribed “all kinds of drugs that ends up keeping me acute depressed and also drives me into hallucinations.”

http://saharareporters.com/news-page/imprisoned-enugu-first-lady-clara-chime-hires-falana-secure-her-release

Police storm New PDP, G-7 governors Abuja meeting

Posted by: Yusuf Alli in Featured, News 15 hours ago

Leaders of the New Peoples Democratic Party (NPDP) claimed last night that the police attempted to stop their meeting in Abuja.

The New PDP leaders were meeting with the G-7 governors, senators and members of the House of Representatives belonging to the group.

But the police denied storming the meeting.

A senior officer said: “We went there to ensure everything was in order as part of our routine surveillance of Asokoro. We do that everyday. We did not storm any place. There’s no way we would arrest governors.”

The policemen came in three cars to the Kano State Governor’s Lodge in Asokoro District, in the Federal Capital Territory (FCT).

But the policemen from Asokoro Division failed to stop the meeting. The venue was shut.

The meeting, which started at about 5.30pm, ended at 9.30pm.

The Divisional Police Officer, CSP Nnanna Ama, led the policemen.

Wearing a T-Shirt with Igbo Day inscription, the police chief left when he and his men could not enter the Lodge.

The policemen returned at about 8.30pm, but they could still not enter the venue.

The governors, however, invited the DPO into their meeting, The Nation learnt.

The leaders reviewed the crisis in the PDP.

They succeeded in holding two sessions, the first with senators and members of the House of Representatives and the other with governors and top leaders of the New PDP.

Those at the session were Governors Rotimi Amaechi (Rivers); Babangida Aliyu (Niger); Sule Lamido (Jigawa); Rabiu Kwankwaso (Kano) and Murtala Nyako (Adamawa).

Also at the meeting were ex-governors Bukola Saraki, Olagunsoye Oyinlola, Abdullahi Adamu, Timpre Sylvia, and Segun Oni.

House of Representatives member Zakari Mohammed, a former National Youth Leader of PDP, Dr. Bibi Farouk and many others were there.

GovernorsAliyu Wammako of Sokoto and Abdulfatah Ahmed of Kwara State were not at the meeting because of “urgent state matters”. They sent their apologies.

Others were Kawu Baraje, Deputy Chairman Sam Sam Jaja; National Secretary Olagunsoye Oyinlola and Vice-Chairman, Northwest, Ibrahim Kazuare.

Speaking with reporters after the meeting Aliyu and Kwankwaso condemned the “invasion”.

Oyinlola said: “We were holding our meeting with the governors when the DPO of Asokoro came in to say that he had instructions to disperse us from holding meeting or else effect our arrest.

“ We were surprised that in spite of the fact that the consultations on the resolution of the PDP crisis had been put on hold as a result of the pilgrimage to Jerusalem and Mecca. And it was made known to all Nigerians that we will continue after the pilgrimage break. It is for the continuation of the reconciliation process that we were meeting here only for the DPO to come.

“And we said ‘okay’ if you had instructions that we should not hold the meeting, we were ready to be arrested. We felt that this is the height of impunity for a DPO to have the guts to tell a group of governors to say we cannot meet. I think it was not as bad as this even during the military era.

“We told him that we were ready for arrest and he should go and bring his troops to effect the arrest. So, we continued the meeting and we finished our meeting.”

Asked of the outcome of the meeting, Oyinlola added: “The resolution was that we should continue the meeting that was postponed with the President. That was the essence of this meeting.

Pressed to say if the session discussed the likely defection of the PDP governors to another party, he replied: “ We have not come to that.”

A statement by the National Publicity Secretary of the Baraje faction, Chief Ezendu Chukwuemeka Eze, also explained what transpired.

The statement said: “The Caucus of the New Peoples Democratic Party (New PDP) met this evening, Sunday, on 3rd November, 2013, at the Kano State Governor’s Lodge in Asokoro, Abuja, to review progress reports, accept the reports of committees and take important decisions on the future of the movement. The Caucus comprises the G7 governors, former governors, present and past senators, past and present members of the House of Representatives, National Working Committee (NWC) members and some elders and stakeholders of the party.

“Sadly, midway into the meeting, the Divisional Police Officer (DPO) incharge of Asokoro Police Unit, CSP Nnanna Ama, burst into the scene and ordered the meeting stopped, threatening to mobilise troops to abort it if his order was not obeyed.

“According to CSP Ama, he has the directive from the Villa to arrest the governors, if the meeting was not stopped. For a DPO to be sent not only to disrupt a meeting of governors duly elected by Nigerians but to arrest them if they failed to heed his counsel is a sign that these people can decide to disrupt the association of any group of Nigerians at any time knowing that such an act is a breach of the Constitution of our country.

“Not minding all our past complaints about the impunity and disregard of the constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria by our Security organs and it is saddening that the Federal Government has continued to maintain stoic silence and bluntly refused to call our security agencies to order. This, to us, is one of the wonders of the present administration in Nigeria. What is baffling to us the more is the continuous silence of our elders and past Heads of State on these various acts of impunity perpetuated by this administration, knowing the grave danger such acts will lead this country to. Let it not be assumed that we are the only one to suffer for this desperation and frustration by some of these misguided elements in this administration as they will go after other Nigerians, if they are not called to order on time.

“Though before the arrival of CSP Ama, the governors had gone very far in their deliberations as the meeting has considered the Mobilisation/Contact Committee’s recommendations on how to receive the five new Governors joining the group and directed the NWC of the party to set in motion a machinery to receive the new entrants. The NWC was also directed to critically examine the available options and recommend to the Caucus the platform to be used for the 2015 general elections.

“ The Caucus is to deliberate on this during its next meeting to be held immediately after the proposed peace talks with President Goodluck Jonathan. The options to be considered include either to remain in PDP or adopt any of the three other options, namely, accept the proposal of APC or join PDM, VOA or form a new political party.

“The Caucus also noted the majority request that seeing that we have majority of our members in the National Assembly and majority of the governors, the idea of continuous waiting for the meeting with Mr. President before deciding our future is no longer ideal, in view of the lukewarm attitude of Mr. President and his lieutenants in restoring peace to the party and refusal to attend to most of our demands. The Caucus decided that we should give the President some weeks grace before finally deciding on our next line of action.

“The Caucus also expressed total displeasure at the lack of reasonable effort to sort out the lingering ASUU/FG face-off, which has kept our children at home for over four months. It counselled the Federal Government to urgently arrest this ugly incident by declaring a state of emergency in the education sector to enable the government meet up with the demands of ASUU.”

http://thenationonlineng.net/new/police-storm-new-pdp-g-7-governors-abuja-meeting/

Ubah’s campaign tempo ‘slows down’

Posted by: Chris Oji, Enugu in News

Barely three weeks to the governorship election, there are indications that Ifeanyi Ubah, the Labour Party candidate, may have run out of cash.

This is coming on the heels of the recent clearance by the Assets Management Corporation of Nigeria (AMCON), that his company, Capital Oil, is on receivership for two years.

Investigation showed that contrary to the defence of Ubah that Capital Oil was not a failed business, the Anambra businessman was said to have run the company aground because of his profligacy.

A source said when he launched his campaign, he had money, but between that time and now, he had wasted the fund on showmanship that it had become difficult for him to pay those working for him.

This has generated discontent in his camp.

The source went on: “Recently, the over 60 bouncers he hired for the campaign almost lynched him because he owed them. They created a scene. He looked for money to pay them. They have left him.”

Another source hinted that it was because of lack of fund that the rallies planned for the 21 local government headquarters and 326 wards had not been held.

He said the slowdown in his campaign, commercials on TV and radio and adverts in the print media in the past three weeks could be attributed to Ubah’s inability to make funds available.

“The money supposed to be released to the wards to use for the campaign has not been released. He has not paid any of those working for him and nobody is happy with him. So how do you think such a man will win an election in the state?” asked the source.

Feelers show that some of his workers are planning to organise a protest to collect the money he owes them before the election.

Efforts to get a response from the Ifeanyi Ubah Campaign Organisation and the Labour Party Election Committee were unsuccessful at press time.

Phone calls to both organisations were not picked.

http://thenationonlineng.net/new/ubahs-campaign-tempo-slows/

Oshiomhole replies Nyiam

Posted by: Osemwengie Ben Ogbemudia, Benin in News 13 hours ago

Edo State government has replied Col. Tony Nyiam following his action at the sitting of the Presidential Advisory Committee on National Dialogue in Benin City, on Monday.

It said in a statement yesterday: “On Monday, Col. Tony Nyiam exposed his hand as a biased member of a committee, which should be above political, ethnic and other sentiments.

“We wonder when Col. Nyiam became the president’s spokesman as to want to drag the president’s name into his shameful act. We are, however, not surprised, going by his antecedents, the Benin incident was just another manifestation of Nyiam’s lack of respect for constituted authority and his love for disunity.

“Even as an officer in such a disciplined profession as the Nigerian Army, Nyiam stood out like a sore thumb and his naked ambition for power led to the death of many officers and men, who owned up and faced the sentence for their treason, but where was Nyiam, he ran away rather than face the consequence of his action, as all cowards do.

“Nyiam said Governor Adams Oshiomhole was ‘talking down on the people’. We wonder when airing one’s opinion or saying ‘I believe that the outcome of this conference will not be different from that of other conferences we have had in the past’ means talking down on the people.

“Nyiam deserves our pity. He might still be hallucinating, thinking he is an Army officer, who must be obeyed. We recognise that no military officer worth his salt would openly disagree with a superior or a Governor at a forum such as the one in Benin City, but again, we recognise that the maxim, ‘officer and gentleman’ does not apply to Nyiam as he has once again displayed to the people in the open.

“We find it interesting that Col. Nyiam has exposed the undercurrent motive of the conference, which has also confirmed Governor Oshiomhole’s initial fears about viability, necessity and desirability of same.

“Inasmuch as we believe that Nigeria is in dire straits, the governor still insists that a talk shop with no agenda is not necessary at this time.”

Governor Oshiomhole hailed the Army for assisting other security agencies in fighting kidnapping and armed robbery.

The governor, who said this yesterday when he received the General Officer Commanding the 2 Division of the Nigerian Army, Maj.- Gen. Ahmed Jubril, said the Army has supported government in its fight against crime.

http://thenationonlineng.net/new/oshiomhole-replies-nyiam/

Why Oduah should be handed over to EFCC, by Falana

Posted by: Yomi Odunuga,and Gbenga Omokhunu, Abuja in News 11 hours ago

Lagos lawyer, Mr Femi Falana (SAN), yesterday urged the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) to probe the Minister of Aviation, Princess Stella Oduah, on the role she played in the purchase of two armoured cars at N255 million.

The cars and 54 others were allegedly purchased under a lease agreement by the Nigeria Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA) after Oduah’s approval.

Falana said there was substantial evidence that the minister approved the transaction illegally, contrary to the provisions of financial guidelines of the Federal Government.

Describing the purchase of the two cars as “outrageous”, Falana told our correspondents in Abuja that the agency saddled with the responsibility of handling such matters is the EFCC.

He said the anti-graft agency should take over investigation.

The frontline lawyer noted that the minister, by approving the purchase, worth N634 million, could be said to be guilty of contract splitting and illegal transactions.

Falana said: “There is inflation in price (of the cars), contrary to the market price. That is another offence. Of course, the provisions of the Bureau of Public Procurement (BPP) were also violated, because there was no due process. There must be due process under any situation.

“I have a letter from the NCAA to the effect that the agency, which bought the cars, does not have the document on the cars. Now, that is another problem; that is a violation of the Freedom of Information (FOI) Act. If those documents had been made available, maybe more revelations would have been out. This is because, for now, those cars are likely to be in the name of First Bank. That is why we must have the document.”

He said the best way to resolve the lingering issue is to “hand the Minister of Aviation over to the EFCC, which is the only organisation recognised by law to investigate economic and financial crimes. No administrative panel under the current political or constitutional dispensation has the power to investigate allegations of criminality.”

On National Assembly’s part in the armoured car probe, Falana said: “Their investigation would be allowed by law, if it is geared towards enacting a law to correct the problems in the industry.

“There is no agency in the country, including the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), whose budget would be approved outside the constitution. By virtue of Section 81 of the Constitution, the estimates of the expenditure of the government shall be laid before the National Assembly by the President every year.”

The frontline lawyer explained the reasons for the investigation, saying: “The loan is payable within 36 months. That is three years. And when they are paying it every month, it is tantamount to contract splitting. What is important in all this is an offence has been committed. The offences displayed so far include, contract splitting by having instalmental payment of the loan for 36 months. The loan was not approved by the National Assembly. Even the president cannot take a loan without an approval obtained from the National Assembly by virtue of the constitution.

“Only the Federal Executive Council (FEC) can approve financial transaction of the government of a N100 million and above. We are not even talking of the N225 million, we are now talking of N643 million. The minister approved the entire transaction illegally and contrary to the provision of financial guidelines of the Federal Government.

“So, an agency appointed by the government cannot be more powerful than the President with respect to spending of money in the country. If the President have to go to the National Assembly to approve every money spend by him, no other official of government can tell the National Assembly that we have no business to account to you.”

http://thenationonlineng.net/new/oduah-handed-efcc-falana/

Dialogue: Edo rowdy meeting vindicates us, says APC

October 30, 2013 by John Alechenu


The All Progressives Congress on Tuesday said the disruption of Governor Adams Oshiomhole’s presentation on the proposed national dialogue in Benin on Monday, was a vindication of its position on the issue.

The party said this in a statement by its interim National Publicity Secretary, Alhaji Lai Mohammed.

The party stated that it “strongly condemned the sponsored disruption of Governor Adams Oshiomhole’s presentation” during the meeting of the Senator Femi Okurounmu-led Presidential Advisory Committee on National Dialogue.

It described the act as “despicable and a vindication of the party’s decision not to be part of the proposed conference.”

The statement read in part, “The truth is that, in proposing the conference, the government had no sincerity of purpose, did not believe in engaging in any dialogue with anyone but itself and has only used it to distract the attention of Nigerians from the total absence of governance and sense of direction by the Jonathan Administration.

“This is why we refused to participate in what is nothing but a sheer deceit. We have already been vindicated even before the start of the conference.”

It expressed shock that the governor of a state hosting a meeting of the advisory committee could be so “primitively treated.”

The party also said, “Even if they have no respect for the person of Governor Oshiomhole, couldn’t they have at least shown respect for the office he is occupying?

“If a person in the calibre of Governor Oshiomhole, with his antecedents and prominent role in the national political discourse, cannot be allowed to air his opinion on any issue, what then will happen to ordinary citizens?”

It commended Oshiomhole for “his maturity and decency,” which he demonstrated in his handling of the situation, despite the “indignity meted out to him.”

http://www.punchng.com/news/dialogue-edo-rowdy-meeting-vindicates-us-says-apc/

Oduagate: Jonathan's presidency and culture of corruption

By Peter Claver Oparah

Nothing best demonstrates the decrepit condition of the Nigerian state at present than the handling of the lurid details of what has come to be known as Oduagate today. To the extent that most Nigerians have come to see the dithering of the Jonathan government in adopting a firm position on the issue as a predictable effort to add the malfeasance that is spewing from the scandal to the rich list of official scandals that have been festering in the life of this regime, Nigerians believe that nothing substantive will be done by the regime to ensure that the wellhead of corruption, which thrives so luxuriantly in this regime is capped. It is unfortunate that gradually, the country is being led to believe that corruption and graft are integral parts of the directive principle of state police and no previous regime in Nigeria has made this retrogressive policy statement more forcefully than has the Jonathan regime.

It may be true, as being put forth by perverted ethnic mandarins, that what presently passes off as Oduagate is becoming an integral part of statecraft in Nigeria. It may be true that corruption has become an ethnic commodity in Nigeria; to be hoisted by respective ethnic divisions to ferry their guilty compatriots from indictment. However, it speaks so low of the present regime that corruption and graft have assumed such life where all it takes to get a culprit exonerated from his or her obvious crimes is to wave a tattered and shameful ethnic bandana. And this has been because room has been created for unpardonable lax in the presumed fight against corruption, which has been a convenient mantra successive regimes have clung to for the purpose of purchasing credibility.

But in a clear instance like the Oduagate where the culprit was caught with her hands fully dipped in the cookie jar, a president mindful of his name and the legacies he leaves behind would not have second-guessed before he does the needful, which is offloading such putrid garbage. A president that attaches even the flimsiest meaning to integrity needs not be prodded to shake off such embarrassing tag the continued tolerance of Stella Odua is bringing to the regime. A president mindful of his placing in the pages of history needs not have waited till Oduagate mutates into a shameful exchange of ethnic brickbats by ethnic minions who predicate their commission on how they are recruited to grow the burgeoning corruption complex. Furthermore, a president careful of the signals he sends forth would not have allowed his party to attempt to muddle the issue on clear partisan coloration. Such president would have been careful to send the signal that his government is interwoven to corruption, as his deliberate dithering on the issue and on such similar issues in the past, portend.

But Nigerians may be dreaming if they expect such actions that speak of an ethical high-ground from a Jonathan government. Again and again, this government continues to demonstrate that it cares no hoot being bandied as corrupt. It has been a free reign of scandalous conduct and means which rebuke decent conduct in governance. Nigerians recall the sordid malfeasance that many believe, is grown in the oil sector, the highlight of which was that in one fell swoop, the government carried out a N2.3trilion heist where state resources were freely shared amongst choice lackeys, cronies and subalterns in the name of fuel subsidy. Even as the government had tongue-in-cheek, admitted such hefty scandal, it had not brought any of the known culprits who are its enablers, supporters and fronts, to justice. It had traversed curious ways to ensure these economic rapists remain free from harm’s way and openly sabotaged the report of the Nuhu Ribadu panel that exposed large-scale officially-induced graft in the oil sector. Today, the Nigerian oil sector remains a cesspool of corruption and its case has been worsened by a frightening large-scale oil theft which most Nigerians consider as an insider-deal and which bleeds the country of an estimated N10 billion each week!

As it is in the oil sector, so it is in the energy sector which had remained terminally cancerous even with the billions of dollars poured into it. At the end of the day, Nigerians are being arm twisted into paying higher tariffs for nonexistent light. Even the much saluted privatization of the sector is not emitting any early signals of revival. These are two instances of the way the government has allowed the scourge of corruption to inflict deep cancerous gashes on the country and its citizens. It is so pervasive that every sector reels from the scourge and it has become such an epidemic because the government promotes a permissive culture that allows corruption to permeate and mutate in various forms and guises. It has become so bad that it has completely demolished what remains of the national moral sinew. In the sequel, such bodies like the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, which hitherto made pretensions to fight corruption, have been buried in unmarked graves. Cronyism, influence peddling and impunity which grow corruption and financial indiscipline are allowed free rein and state resources are plundered with daring audacity.

A fat, obtuse and wasteful government ensures that several fonts of corruption are unleashed on the resources that would have bettered the lots of perpetually suffering Nigeria whose lives continue to trudge on the thorny paths of a brutish, short and nasty life. In the sequel, an insignificant few, with access to the operatives of government corner the common till and flags not in plundering such national patrimony to the detriment of the masses. It is for this reason that Nigeria is today a study in contrasts where government trumpets a growing economy but where the citizenry is experiencing the worst form of privation ever. It is for this reason that Nigeria has earned more oil revenue in the last fourteen years that it earned in the rest of its 39 years independent history yet poverty is rifer than at any period of our history. It is ironic that these free loaders succeed in enlisting the politics of poverty which undergirds the conduct of the present epoch to recruit their victims to bring ethnicity into cases of corruption against them. It is a greater tragedy that a presidency that should wield the hammer in such dastardly instances and weigh in the moral cudgel willingly plays up the game and takes deft measures to inter such brazen cases of corruption each time they arise.

The absence of a leading figure abhorrent and intolerant of corruption has unleashed a wild gusto of free loading amongst public office holders who always trust on the unfailing support of the president to rally to their sides when they are caught in the act. Because the present government is ethically rusty, morally compromised and stunted in credibility, it had not failed to leverage its cover to any of its officials caught plundering public funds. At best, it tries to politicize such lurid cases and wait till our historical national amnesia quells such scandal and consigns them to our narrow subconscious.

Nigeria needs instant redemption, anchored on the need to re-discover our moral compass, reawaken our ethical underpinning, and resurrect our sense of shame and hewing for ourselves a leadership that has the guts and enough personal distaste for corruption. The citizenry need to rediscover their lost souls to stand and mobilize enough shame to confront corruption and its perpetrators, regardless of their ethnic origins. This is the only way to save the country and its citizens from possible perdition where it is irrevocably heading for at present.

Peter Claver Oparah
Ikeja, Lagos.

E-mail: peterclaver2000@yahoo.com



The views expressed in this article are the author’s own and do not necessarily reflect the editorial policy of SaharaReporters

Alleged fraud: Ifeanyi Ubah has case to answer, says EFCC

Posted by: Joseph JIbueze in News 13 hours ago

•Capital Oil boss urges court to stop his arrest



The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) has urged the Federal High Court in Lagos to dismiss an application by the Labour Party (LP) governorship candidate in Anambra State Ifeanyi Ubah seeking to stop his arrest by the commission and the police over a fraud allegation.

Ubah and his company, Capital Oil and Gas Limited, are praying the court to restrain the EFCC Chairman, Ibrahim Lamorde and the Inspector-General of Police Mohammed Abubakar from arresting him over what he called a “purely civil transaction”.

He sought an order of perpetual injunction restraining the respondents from taking further actions (including invitation, arrest, detention or arraignment) with respect to the transaction between him, his company and another company, DTV Limited.

Ubah said neither DTV nor any of its shareholders/directors made any accusation or complaint against him and his company, contrary to EFCC’s claim.

According to him, the alleged witch-hunt and threat of arrest/detention by the EFCC and the police were meant to humiliate him by portraying him as a criminal.

The oil mogul/politician claimed that the case which EFCC purports to be investigating involved accusations and counter-accusations by shareholders and directors of DTV Limited against one another in a supremacy tussle within the company.

Ubah also claimed in his application that the transaction involved a lease of land and purchase of shares of a DTV subsidiary, for which the respondents should have no reasonable suspicion of commission of any offence by the applicants.

He said the bid to arrest him constitutes an infraction of his fundamental rights enshrined in Sections 35 (1) (C) and 35 (5) of the 1999 Constitution (as amended).

But the EFCC, in its 35-paragraph counter-affidavit, said Ubah has a case to answer.

The EFCC chairman said he received petitions on November 28 and December 17 last year from two law firms on behalf of Dys Trocca Vaksesia & Company (DTV) Limited against Ubah and his company.

He said the petition raised allegations of fraud, obtaining registration by false pretence, forgery, uttering of forged documents, conspiracy to obtain money by false pretence, tax evasion and underpayment of consent fees against the applicants.

The EFCC chairman said the petitioner alleged that the applicants connived with the former Managing Director and Secretary of DTV and executed a deed of lease of the petitioner’s parcel of land at Apapa- Oshodi Expressway to Ubah “for a ridiculous amount of N60, 000 for a tenure of 30 years.”

The commission said the petition also contained allegation of underpayment of consent fees and levies to the Lagos State government, for which the EFCC was given a fiat by the Attorney-General to investigate and prosecute where necessary.

EFCC said the applicants were not entitled to the declarations sought, that it would be in the interest of justice to refuse Ubah’s reliefs, and that the applicants would not be prejudiced if the court refuses to grant the prayers.

Yesterday, Ubah applied for additional time to provide the court with a police report.

http://thenationonlineng.net/new/alleged-fraud-ifeanyi-ubah-case-answer-says-efcc/

Senate grills FAAN MD over bullet-proof cars

October 29, 2013 by Sunday Aborisade, Abuja


The Senate Committee on Aviation on Tuesday queried the Managing Director of the Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria over the purchase of four bullet-proof cars in his. Agency’s custody

The MD, Mr. George Uriesi, told the Senator Hope Uzodima-led committee that the vehicles included two lexus Limousine cars and two Prado jeeps.

He said the limousines were bought at the cost of N60m each and not N70m as being reported.

He however said he did not have details of the cost of the Prado jeeps.

The MD added that the vehicles were still in the custody of the banks, which funded the purchase.

It was also learnt that Uriesi could not account for the person who ordered the purchase and for who they were meant for.

The FAAN boss, who was grilled by the six-member committee, was said to be sweating in the air-conditioned room while the session lasted.

He said the Minister of Aviation, Ms. Stella Oduah, approved the purchase of the vehicles while somebody, which he failed to mention, signed on her behalf.

An obviously enraged Uzodinma lambasted the FAAN boss for receiving approval from the minister instead of the Federal Executive Council.

He was therefore ordered to return to the committee on Monday with details of the transactions and necessary receipts he used to purchase the vehicles.

He was also asked to bring along details of other vehicles which the agency bought for its directors.

Meanwhile, the Senate Aviation Committee has said it would inspect the bullet-proof cars bought for Oduah by NCAA before the end of the week.

http://www.punchng.com/news/senate-grills-faan-md-over-bullet-proof-cars/

NOTHING GO HAPPEN

Dialogue panel chief incites thugs against Oshiomhole

Posted by: Osagie Otabor and Ben Ogbemudia Benin in Featured, News 1 min ago

The national dialogue roadshow went awry yesterday in Benin City, the Edo State capital.

A meeting of the Presidential Advisory Committee on National Dialogue in the Southsouth zone ended in a fiasco at the Imaguero Hall. The delegates left after comments by Governor Adams Oshiomhole caused an uproar.

The hall was virtually empty by the time some ethnic groups and individuals were presenting their memoranda.

The meeting that began at about 2pm ended at 4:30pm after committee Chairman Femi Okunrounmu declared that its members’ lives were not safe in Edo.

The Isoko, Urhobo, Itsekiri and Bini had presented their stand before the fracas.

It was as if some people were hired to disrupt the event when somebody from the audience interupted Oshiomhole a few minutes into his speech.

The voice said” “Two minutes”. “I will do more than that,” Oshiomhole replied.

The governor went on: “I want to make my own comments. They are my views and not the views of Edo State. It is not the view of any particular ethnic nationality. I think as a Nigerian we all have stake in this country and we have a duty to lay a solid foundation for the future of this country. I have a duty to be honest and truthful on the views and position that I canvass. My views are different. I asked the question, why are we having a national conference?”

“I believe that anyone who convenes a meeting must be clear why he convened a meeting. I have the opportunity to travel far and wide. You don’t assemble people and then ask them, what do we talk?. Whoever wishes to convene a meeting must be clear on what the issues are. When you have stated why the meeting was convened, you can then ask what should be added or deleted. You have hundreds of agenda. When I was the NLC, a former president convened a national conference and up till now…

Another interruption. Oshiomhole said: “You cannot shout me down. I know some persons were hired to be here.”

He continued: “People from various states converged, money was spent and in the end I can’t remember what came out of that conference. It is a valid point to make that we failed before, we can make amend but it is important we learn from our history. I will be surprised if anything changes. As a leader, I have no business to mislead anyone. This conference will not be different from any previous conference.”

Some ethnic nationalities, mainly from Bayelsa and Delta states, were accused of joining to shout down the governor.

A member of the committee, Col. Tony Nyiam, stood up and made some unprintable remarks about Oshiomhole which led to a near free for all on the high table.

Nyiam stood up, banging the table and screaming: “No!”, “no!”, “no”. The ex-soldier was restrained by other members of the committee who appeared shocked at his behaviour.

The committee members hurriedly left after thugs invaded the hall.

The governor was still making his contribution when Nyiam started screaming for him to sit down. He was then joined in by the thugs who disrupted the proceedings and many scampered for safety as a result of the unruliness of the committee member and the thugs.

The governor, who insisted on concluding his remarks, yielded the floor to the thugs, who were getting violent.

The National Anthem was hurriedly played as the governor took his exit.

In a statement last night, the dialogue panel condemned the “unruly conduct” of one of its members for joining the crowd to heckle the governor.

At a visit to him in his office by members of the committee led by Senator Femi Okurounmu either Oshiomhole said he had no faith in the process.

He said: “All I owe Nigeria now is to speak my mind. It could be error of my head, but certainly not of my heart. As much as I wish you well, I just want to say that I have no faith in this process and I do not think it was necessary at all.”

The governor added: “I am unable to find any basis to give me some illusion that this exercise will be different from the others.

He lamented that 53 years after independence, Nigerians still prefer to look at themselves from their ethnic origin rather than being Nigerians. “For me, I am just a Nigerian,” Oshiomhole said.

Oshiomhole said: “I do not think that more than 100 years when we have set aside billions of naira to celebrate our centenary the fact of our amalgamation of the North and Southern Nigeria, and we have lived together as one country for over a 100 years, and we have gone through independence, we have been free for 53 years and we are coming back to ask the question, how could we be there?

“I think Nigeria needs to address very serious issues. When I see eminent Nigerians discussing this issue, I am sure they know that Nigeria’s problem is not this politics of sharing, which the national dialogue is all about; who is getting what, who has this natural endowment, who should do this or not do this. For me, this is the act of perfecting poverty.

“The real challenge is getting Nigeria back to production. The real challenge is creating industrial base and this cannot be resolved through conferences. We have moved from parliamentary system in our own wisdom to the presidential system. We have test-run it and it was aborted by the military and it has re-incarnated in the present form,” he said, adding:

“Nigeria does need a serious reflection about how to return to those core values that made Nigeria work before. Those healthy competition between the governments, visit the whole question of attitude and unless that changes, I do not see how any dialogue can work”, he said.

The Governor said: “I was discussing with somebody last week and he noted that this is the eleventh conference and I ask what ten conferences could not do, how would the eleventh one do it? Why do we think we can continue doing the same thing the same old way and think that this time the outcome would be different?”

The Governor said nobody convenes a meeting without stating the agenda and asking others to draw up the agenda for that meeting. “From conception we know we want to talk, but we do not know what we want to talk about.”

Okurounmu said the committee was in Benin as part of its tour of the six geopolitical zones to get their input into the content of the agenda, the duration, choice of delegation and legal framework of the proposed dialogue.

Okunroumu expressed happiness over the impressive turnout by Nigerians at the different venues of its sittings.

“Nigerians have accepted the need to have this conference. We have been to four centres Minna, Akure, Jos and Calabar, and the turnout has been impressive and overwhelming.

“In all the centres, Nigerians came from the rural areas, even from the remotest villages to make presentations to us and there are “no-go areas at all.

“We are to listen to all Nigerians and I am happy that the turnout has been encouraging to the extent that we requested for bigger halls,’’ he said.

The chairman noted that “we have been listening to different groups and views, but no single group who threatens to dismember Nigeria has come before us.

“Nigerians all over the world are entitled to submit their views, but they must not be in the committee to air their views.

They have our e-mail address. “Let them submit their memo to us and their views will be acknowledged. This is the essence of the committee.

“That is why we are going round to know what are the things agitating the minds of Nigerians.

“We will include these views in our report and these will definitely set the agenda for government and tell government how they want to be governed,’’ he said.

http://thenationonlineng.net/new/dialogue-panel-chief-incites-thugs-oshiomhole/

We don’t have armoured cars purchase documents – NCAA

October 28, 2013 by Ade Adesomoju 103 Comments



The Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority has denied having any documents relating to the two BMW bulletproof cars it bought for the Minister of Aviation, Ms Stella Oduah.

The denial came two days after Lagos lawyer, Mr. Femi Falana (SAN), gave seven days ultimatum to NCAA to supply his law firm with the information.

Falana’s request, dated October 21, 2013, was made on the strength of the provisions of the Freedom of information Act.

But a copy of the reply to the request dated October 23, 2013 by the NCAA Director-General, Mr. Fola Akinkuotu, was obtained by our correspondent on Sunday.

In his reply through the NCAA Legal Adviser, Mr. E.K Chukwuma, Akinkuotu also claimed not to have in the possession of the NCAA any documents relating to previous purchase of such cars.

The reply read, “I am directed to your letter dated October 21, 2013 on the above matter (Request for information on N255m armoured cars for Aviation Minister, Ms Stella Oduah) and to inform you that the Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority is not in possession of any document relating to the purchase of the armoured cars for the Aviation Minister, Ms Stella Oduah.

“With regard to your request for records of previous purchase of armoured cars by the Aviation Ministry or NCAA, I am to inform you that the Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority does not have such records.”

But Falana, in a telephone chat with our correspondent on Sunday, said he was going to request the Attorney-General of the Federation to prosecute the NCAA DG.

He said, “Since copies of the documents on the Oduahgate are available the DG has wilfully violated the provisions of the FoI Act, I am sending a request to the Attorney-General of the Federation to prosecute him without any delay.

“Since the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission has commenced investigation pursuant to my petition, I am also forwarding the DG’s letter to the Commission for necessary action.”

Falana, had in his letter, written on his behalf by a lawyer in his law firm, Mr. Adedotun Isola-Osobu, asked Akinkuotu to supply his chamber with detailed information on the vehicles.

The SAN had predicated his request on the claim by Akinkuotu during a press conference on October 18, 2013, that the NCAA indeed bought the cars for the minister.

In his letter to the NCAA, Falana had asked Akinkuotu to supply records of previous purchase of such cars if indeed it was customary for the NCAA to purchase such cars for the aviation minister and visiting foreign dignitaries.

The letter read, “In your press conference at Abuja held on Friday, October 18, 2013 you did admit that the Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority actually bought the controversial armoured cars and that ‘it is customary to convey the minister and visiting dignitaries in security vehicles whenever they are in Nigeria.’

“In the light of your claim at the said press conference we are compelled to request you to make available to us certified true copies of the documents relating to the purchase of the cars, including budgetary approval and due process for the entire transaction.

“Since you claimed that it is customary to purchase such cars for aviation minister and visiting foreign dignitaries you are also requested to provide the records of previous purchase of armoured cars by the aviation ministry or the NCAA.

“Take notice that you are mandatorily required to supply the requested information within seven days of the receipt of this letter by virtue of the provisions of the Freedom of Information Act, 2011.”

The NCAA had admitted to have spent a whopping $1.6m (N255m) on the two cars. The purchase of the cars had since ignited calls for the removal of the aviation minister.

http://www.punchng.com/news/bulletproof-cars-we-dont-have-documents-ncaa-tells-falana/

Jonathan’s Fate In Stella’s Hands By Sonala Olumhense

Posted: October 27, 2013 - 04:22


Columnist: Sonala Olumhense
President Goodluck Jonathan slipped out of town last week, smart man. With Abuja increasingly hotter over the Stella Oduah corruption allegations, his spokesman issued a statement disclosing that the Nigeria leader was heading for Israel.

The State House statement was a curiously-worded statement, outstanding for an admixture of wordiness and wordlessness.

For instance, rather than say Jonathan would tour the Holy Land or visit Holy Sites or undertake a holy pilgrimage, as Christians usually say, the statement said he would “undertake a tour of some locations in Israel which are revered by Christians because of their association with the earthly mission of Jesus Christ.”

But Jonathan was also going to be doing a spot of work, meeting with Israeli leaders, the presidency said.

“Talks between President Jonathan’s delegation and Israeli government officials are expected to focus on the enhancement of bilateral relations between Nigeria and Israel in areas including trade, economic development, infrastructure, transportation, agriculture, communications, culture, education and tourism.”

If those were the areas slated for discussion, it was curious that the official delegation included Rtd. Col. Sambo Dasuki, the National Security Adviser. The statement suggested Nigeria would not be discussing security or terrorism with the Israelis. Perhaps Dasuki would simply tour the Christian sites with Mr. Jonathan and sample the luxuries of presidential travel.

The presidency took care to list members of Mr. Jonathan’s delegation, but it disingenuously omitted Mrs. Oduah. The embattled Minister was sent to Tel Aviv ahead of the Nigeria leader perhaps because someone felt Nigerians would be offended if she were to be seen entering the presidential jet with the President.

But she was part of the delegation, present in Israel to sign a bilateral air agreement on behalf of Nigeria that some other official could have signed. I have seen the Jonathan presidency do some pretty filthy things, but smuggling Mrs. Oduah into Israel at the height of the corruption uproar against her at a time she was supposed to be facing an investigating panel is one of the dirtiest.

There was more. The State House statement also said, almost in a whisper, that during his trip, Mr. Jonathan would also meet with Mahmoud Abbas, the President of the Palestinian National Authority.

Absent in the announcement was the highly significant detail as to whether Mr. Abbas would come into Israel to meet with him—which would be a major diplomatic statement on all three sides—or Mr. Jonathan would travel to the West Bank. If it was the latter, it would have meant Mr. Jonathan was making three trips, not the two that the government told the Nigerian people.

Still, with a few hours left to his departure, Mr. Jonathan returned to the inescapable heat of Mrs. Oduah’s embarrassing corruption allegations, including illegally and corruptly buying two luxury cars for an incredible $1.6 million with the funds of an agency in her Ministry.

His unconvincing afterthought however raises two problems, one of them practical; the other, philosophical.

The practical: the panel, according to the government’s announcement, has two weeks to submit its report in what should be no more than a simple two or three-day enquiry. But of the two weeks, a member of the panel, Col. Dasuki, was spending the first in the Middle East as part of Mr. Jonathan’s traveling party. Is it possible that the retired colonel has been cloned so the faithful servant can be in two places running different errands for the same master? Or has Nigeria run out of manpower?

The philosophical: first, by setting up an ‘administrative’ panel, Mr. Jonathan undermined Nigeria’s so-called anti-corruption agencies and the police, which have the expertise and the structures to undertake such a task expeditiously. The President suggests that privileged Nigerians cannot be investigated by the same agencies that investigate the not-so-privileged, and casts doubt that the objective is justice.

Of equal importance, by setting up the panel, Mr. Jonathan steps over the see-no-evil-hear-no-evil-smell-no-evil altitude about corruption in high places he has adopted since he first bragged he would “fight” it. In particular, he arrives in the stables of SaharaReporters, a website known for its relentless exposés about corruption.

By deciding to investigate Mrs. Oduah, one of his former campaign stalwarts, Mr. Jonathan acknowledges SaharaReporters, which broke the story, and all the journals and petitioners that have courageously reported corruption throughout his thoroughly ambivalent presidency.

But where does that acknowledgement end? Even Mr. Jonathan knows he lacks a true anti-corruption bone in his body. Is the objective to punish Mrs. Oduah for the same self-enrichment and impunity that has been the fare of the media in the past seven years? With what credibility will Mr. Jonathan explain away the mountain of corruption reports and petitions he has ignored since he first took over leadership?

It looks more likely that the probe is only a ruse, part of a strategy aimed at keeping the game going. After all, corruption allegations do not stick to anyone for long in Nigeria, especially if you are sufficiently close to the center of power. James Ibori brushed them off his sleeves. Several governors who faced them are now Senators and best friends of the Jonathan presidency. Dipreye Alamieyeseigha enjoys presidential pardon.

The point is that the Oduah matter, including the purported probe being undertaken the House of Representatives and the presidential panel, only makes good theatre.

That probe is no more than the latest in a growing trail of strategic errors that Mr. Jonathan has made as he gropes his way to 2015, highlighted last week by his irresponsibly taking of the beleaguered Minister to Israel.

Another such error is the National Conference Advisory Committee he announced on National Day.

Mr. Jonathan does not have a good track record of implementing reports, but even before this particular process could begin, he betrayed his own cause by clarifying he does not understand, or accept, that sovereignty belongs to the people, not the National Assembly. It is the equivalent of stabbing your only son to death before his umbilical cord has even been cut. He demonstrated he is only playing politics.

These are extremely significant developments, but also dangerous ones for Mr. Jonathan’s political future. By making some of his recent choices, Mr. Jonathan may well have made Mrs. Oduah the new face of corruption and inadvertently given her control of his political destiny.

Next week, he will return from Israel with both a Minister he is probing and a man who is supposed to be probing her.

No matter how innocent Madam Minister may have been, it will be interesting to see how his storytellers convince the Nigerian people that during the trip, the President, the Minister and the National Security Adviser did not discuss the Minister’s fate.

Jonathan may be probing her now, but in the end, she may well determine how far he travels, and in what direction.

•sonala.olumhense@gmail.com
•Twitter: @SonalaOlumhense

http://saharareporters.com/column/jonathan%E2%80%99s-fate-stella%E2%80%99s-hands-sonala-olumhense

wow!

Umaru Dikko Accepted PDP’s Job At The Risk Of His Life - Source
Posted: October 25, 2013 - 16:41
Posted by siteadmin

caption: Umaru Dikko at the PDP secretariat
By SaharaReporters, New York
SaharaReporters has gathered that Alhaji Umaru Dikko, the Second Republic Minister of Transport under the National Party of Nigeria government, accepted to chair the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) Disciplinary Committee at the risk of his failing health.

A source in Dikko’s family disclosed that he was rushed out of a London hospital, and returned to the country against the wishes of his son, Dr. Bello Dikko, who is also a practicing medical doctor in the United Kingdom.

The source, who asked for anonymity when contacted by SaharaReporters, said, “Baba is really sick and cannot talk effectively, he is suffering [from] hypertension that resulted into almost a stroke. As we speak, he is still under medication and not even functioning very well, but we wonder why they insisted he should do this job. Sincerely, we have done our best and the fact is, he accepted at the risk of his life.”

He added that pleas to the PDP to shelve Dikko’s involvement fell on deaf ears, pointing out that the Second Republic minister was also adamant.

The National Chairman of the PDP, Alhaji Bamanga Tukur, yesterday inaugurated the Dikko committee in Abuja.

A journalist who covered the inauguration said Dikko’s voice was feeble, and that he looked sick and frail.

http://saharareporters.com/news-page/umaru-dikko-accepted-pdp%E2%80%99s-job-risk-his-life-source

Oduahgate: Don’t use politics to justify corruption, APC warns

October 24, 2013 / in News 4:10 pm

The All Progressives Congress (APC) has warned against any attempt by the unimaginative spin doctors of the Aviation Ministry to use politics as a cover for the egregious corruption scandal surrounding the illegal purchase of two armoured cars for the Minister of Aviation.

In a statement issued in Lagos on Thursday by its Interim National Publicity Secretary, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, the party said it is most unconscionable for anyone to blame the supposed opposition to President Jonathan’s re-election in 2015 as the reason for the widespread outcry against the monumental corruption and abuse of office engendered by the scandal.

It said that the opposition, in particular, should not be blamed for the justifiable indignation of most Nigerians to the corruption scandal, as Yakubu Dati, who goes by the nebulous title of ‘coordinating Spokesperson for the Aviation Ministry’ (don’t blame him. After all there is a coordinating Minister of the Economy, a title unknown to the Constitution) tried to do in his winding postulation on the scandal.

”What Dati and his co-spin doctors tried to do is to play on President Jonathan’s insecurity as far as 2015 elections are concerned. This is very insulting not only to Nigerians but also to President Jonathan himself, and it will not sell. After all, attempts to blame the opposition for the lingering ASUU strike has also failed. In any case, what is the business of a public servant, who is supposed to be apolitical, about whether a President is re-elected or not?

”We in the APC have not joined the fray over the Oduahgate scandal since it broke out because we thought this was a straightforward case of corruption and abuse of office that should be summarily dealt with. But President Jonathan has again failed to live up to expectation, thus allowing all manners of clowns to seek to pull the wool over the eyes of Nigerians in the name of defending the indefensible,” APC said.

The party wondered why President Jonathan will engage in a diversionary and exculpatory strategy of setting up a panel to investigate the scandal, when there are statutory bodies that are supposed to do so.

”There is precedence on how to handle such a matter. In case President Jonathan has forgotten, his then boss, President Umaru Musa Yar’Adua, sacked Adenike Grange and Gabriel Aduku, Minister of Health and Minister of State for Health respectively, for spending part of the ministry’s unspent budget. The Permanent Secretary and other top officials of the ministry were also suspended when the issue broke out. No panel was set up before this action was taken.

”While many may argue that President Jonathan is only following ‘due process’ in dealing with the issue, we counter that he is only seeking to buy time while hoping that the issue will die down. The composition of the panel set up by the President itself supports our stand. It is doubtful if any of the members will act against what they perceive to be the ‘interest’ of the President on the issue,” it said.

Meanwhile, APC has condemned in strong terms the arrest of Mr. Dino Melaye and other protesters against the Oduahgate scandal in Abuja, saying the police, by their action, have signalled that they will protect corrupt public officials.

The party said the reasons given by the police, obstruction of traffic and disturbance of public peace, were apparently cooked up to justify their shameful act.

”The Nigeria Police must learn to operate in accordance with the best practices around the world. Elsewhere, the police will offer protection to peaceful protests, the type that Mr. Melaye led in Abuja, and ensure that their protests are not hijacked by hoodlums, like the hired pro-Oduah protesters who reportedly attacked those protesting against corruption and abuse of office.

”This is not what is expected of a police force that is maintained with taxpayers fund, and all those involved in harassing and arresting the anti-corruption protesters must bow their heads in shame,” APC said

http://www.vanguardngr.com/2013/10/oduahgate-dont-use-politics-justify-corruption-apc-warns/

Home » Columnists » Stella Oduah’s romance with scandals

Stella Oduah’s romance with scandals
Posted by: Dele Agekameh in Columnists, Dele Agekameh, Wednesday 3 days ago

For quite some time now, Stella Oduah, the masculine and wrestler-built Nigeria’s minister of aviation, seems to be permanently hooked to scandals of various dimensions and magnitude. Her 27-month tenure as minister has been dogged by several controversies and scandals. Not only this, the aviation industry under her watch has witnessed two major air disasters leading to the loss of no fewer than 200 precious lives.

The latest scandal involving the minister has to do with the purchase of two BMW 760 Li luxury cars which were recently purchased for her by the Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority, NCAA. The way and manner the cars were procured as well as the exorbitant price tag placed on them seems to have compounded the integrity issues confronting her. The minister has come under severe criticisms from notable members of the public following the revelation that the NCAA bought the two bullet-proof vehicles for a whopping $1.6 million or N255 million. The armoured vehicles were reportedly delivered to her in August this year.

The BMW is a fast-moving car with all the accompanied luxuries. For those who prefer a quick dash all around, any make of the BMW series could satisfy their sartorial taste. Findings on the BMW website indicate that the 760 Li HSS model purchased for the exclusive use of the minister has a shelf price of $186,000 or N29, 760,000 (at N160 per dollar). However, the price varies, depending on options, that is, the aesthetics – both the interior and exterior finishing of the luxury car. It is purposely built to meet the highest and most demanding security requirements. The 760Li High Security model has been tested by a German bullet and firing inspection authority. With its 6.0 cm bullet-proof glass, the car can withstand attacks with explosives or bullets of the armour-breaking 7.62x54R API calibre often used by terrorist organizations such as the rampaging Boko Haram insurgents currently ravaging the north-eastern part of the country. It has a reinforced body and explosion-resistant undercarriage that meets the higher VR9 standard. Even if it is hit by a high velocity impact such that could lead to a sudden loss of tyre pressure, the vehicle can run on flat tyres for an upward of 50 kilometres at an average speed of 80 kilometres per hour. The car’s emergency exit is conveniently situated around the front wide screen.

There are other security features and relaxation ambience that come with the car. Its long-distance infrared technology can pick out people on the carriageway in poor visibility or at night at a distance of up to 300 metres. The optional rear-seat entertainment system allows two passengers to watch the same or different DVDs at the same time. It also allows the occupants of the back to follow the car’s progress on the navigation system, or even go on the internet as they cruise along. This is possible because two distinct and independent 9.2-inch colour screens are built into the front headrests. To complete this out-of-this-world luxury, in case the owner or occupant desires a good massage to emerge from exhaustion, tiredness or boredom, the car provides optional massage function in the rear-seat backrests.

The latest revelation has come at a time when certain events in the aviation industry, which Oduah supervises, have become a cause for concern and embarrassment, not just for Nigerian air travellers, but also for the world at large. The first was the Dana Air crash in Lagos on June 3, 2012 barely one year after she took over as Aviation Minister, in which 159 people died. Another one was the Associated Airlines crash of October 3, also in Lagos, which claimed 15 lives.

Apart from the two fatalities, many air passengers had escaped death by the whiskers on some other occasions. One of such happened a day after the Associated Airline’s crash, when a Kabo Airline’s Boeing 747-400 plane, which was taking an estimated 512 pilgrims for this year’s Hajj to Saudi Arabia, made an emergency landing at the Sokoto airport after suffering deflated tyres. The emergency landing caused some damages to the airport’s Instrument Landing System.

A few days after this near-tragedy, an IRS Airlines Fokker-100 plane carrying 99 passengers also made an emergency landing at the Kaduna airport after developing hydraulic problem mid-air. The nation’s embarrassment is not limited to the Nigerian airspace though, as a Nigerian registered cargo airplane had also crashed in Accra, Ghana, on June 2, 2012, a day before the Dana crash.

In the wake of the Associated Airline’s crash, the unrepentant aviation minister had stirred the hornet’s nest in an ill-informed press conference she addressed after the incident. Oduah had incurred severe public criticism for describing the two major air crashes as “inevitable acts of God.” She said that, as minister, her job was to provide leadership and ensure that the right policies were in place for the aviation sector to run efficiently. She passed the buck on safety and industry regulation to the heads of the agencies in the sector, such as the NCAA, the Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria and the Nigerian Airspace Management Authority.

While ‘natural’ disasters may not necessarily be anyone’s doing, the fact remains that with the controversy thrown up by the recent air disasters in the country, it is quite obvious that many things are wrong with the nation’s aviation industry. And from the look of things, coupled with the minister’s vague admission that air accidents are acts of God, it seems that the minister may be ill-equipped to deal with the situation decisively. Based on the fatal accidents and near-mishaps that we have witnessed in recent times, one wonders if the Nigerian aviation sector has excellent standards and maintenance regulations for domestic airlines. If there are, they don’t seem to be enforced.

Again, the minister had said the aviation sector needed injection of funds if air travel must be safe and secure. if this is true (and we all know this), isn’t it then a contradiction that the same minister that desperately shops for operating funds is now engaged in a spending spree, compelling parastatals under her supervision to be buying amoured cars and other gifts for her? This is a dent on the integrity of the aviation minister.

Except in Nigeria where anything goes, it is absolutely unethical for the minister to have accepted ‘gifts’ from the NCAA, an agency she supervises. If there were threats to her life as she claims, there are constitutional provisions for that, as a bona fide Nigerian, even if she is not occupying public office. She should have exploited that means instead of accepting gifts from an agency whose shoddy handling of the aviation sector, many believe, has contributed enormously to the death of innocent people.

Certainly, Oduah may not be the only minister who breathes down too heavily on the parastatals they supervise. It is common knowledge that many of her mates compel such agencies to foot the bills of their transport, accommodation, feeding and more, each time they have to attend one function or the other. Even bills of family members, distant relations and other acquaintances are forced to be picked up by such agencies without a whimper from any of them. This is a corrupt practice that only a country like Nigeria, where ethical issues are taken with levity, condones.

As usual, rather than cover their faces in shame and or make atonement for the unbridled corruption involved in the purchase of the cars, including the highly inflated figures presented to the public, the management of the NCAA is busy chasing shadows. Now, they are busy hunting for the whistleblower, while the minister is sitting tight in office. Is this how we will continue to run the affairs of this country? The answer is no. Something must definitely give way. It is either the government shows a firm commitment to fighting corruption in all ramification or the citizens resort to self-help, which may take the form of pelting thieving officials with stones and other available objects on the streets. If the chaos this will precipitate will force our leaders to redress the endemic anomalies in the system, so be it!

http://thenationonlineng.net/new/stella-oduahs-romance-scandals/

Jonathan’s penchant for probe panels

October 24, 2013 by Akeem Laisi


After much pressure from the media, critics and the public, the Federal Government, on Wednesday, announced that it has set up a panel of enquiry to probe the Minister of Aviation, Ms. Stella Oduah, over the purchase of two BMW armoured vehicles worth N255m in her fleet.

Oduah was said to have instructed the Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority to purchase the two bulletproof cars, in circumstances that, many believe, violated due process, accountability and the kind of financial sobriety that should define a leader sensitive to the socio-economic tone of the nation.

Although many had expected President Goodluck Jonathan to act faster than he seems to be doing now, observers would still feel a little consoled that the government is officially responding to what has now been termed the ‘Oduahgate’.

Such people would, at least, pretend not to remember that the same minister, who by now would have either been sacked or suspended from office in a sane society, is said to be currently in Isreal, believed to be a home of the type of humility, accountability and leadership-by-example style that Jesus Christ spent all His life preaching.

The fact finders are coming in the form of a three-man administrative panel of enquiry. With a former Head of Service of the Federation, Alhaji Sali Bello, as its chair, the panel has the National Security Adviser, Col. Sambo Dasuki (retd.), and Air Vice Marshal Dick Iruenebere (retd.) as members. The three wise men have two weeks to submit their report.

Should Nigerians hope the FG’s move will yield any concrete result? For a student of experience, the answer, painfully, is likely to be ‘No’. The reason is that Nigerian governments, especially the FG – and the Jonathan administration in particular – have a record of bungling the work or findings of such administrative panels.

Experience has taught many Nigerians that the authorities often set up the panels to buy time, divert people’s attention or just give jobs to ‘the boys’.

The Jonathan example even seems to be more sophisticated. Pundits have noted that it appears that it likes to exploit administrative panels to either pre-empt or subvert the thinking of another government organ, such as the legislature, on controversial matters.

For instance, some people may want to ask: Why is it that the constitution of the Bello panel is coming about a day after the House of Representatives decided to probe the scandalous purchase of the two cars? The fact is that once-beaten-twice-shy observers would feel that now that the Presidency has set up its own panel, it has invented a reason for disregarding whatever recommendations the House may eventually make on the Oduahgate.

At least two incidents in the “Guinness Book of Records” of the Jonathan government justify this fear. First, in the wake of the widespread fuel subsidy fraud that rocked the country in the past few years – one can only hope that something has changed, really – the House set up a committee to probe oil marketers that were indicted. It is true that, like the proverbial cock that deserves praise for being the first to wake up, but soils the feat by leaving faeces in its cage, some of the legislators, including Farouk Lawan, ended up in a bribery mess.

But the exercise yielded major revelations which should have prompted the FG to deal with thieving oil merchants. But till today, no one has been punished accordingly. Rather, some of the people and organisations indicted are believed to still be the very best friends of the Presidency, further eating deep into other juicy sectors of the economy.

In the second instance, the Presidency broke another curious record when it, arguably, encouraged the truncating of the work of the Nuhu Ribadu Panel, which it set up to dig into the activities of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation, regarded to be one of the most corrupt institutions in Nigeria – and probably the whole world. Of course, this exaggeration can be condoned, considering Nigeria’s rating on the scale of the corrupt nations.

Based on what may pass as orchestrated issues, a faction broke away from the same panel, conducted its own ‘investigation’ and submitted its own report at the same event where the original committee submitted its own. The government not only anointed the minority report, it eventually rejected Ribadu’s main one, arguing that it was leaked before it was turned in.

Among other points, the Nuhu Ribadu-led Petroleum Revenue Special Task Force detailed how the Nigerian government and the NNPC treat huge oil revenues accruing to the federation as a reserve of money that could be used for questionable purposes, and without accountability.

In its 178-page report, it revealed how oil money in the corporation’s custody was spent on extra-budgetary purposes, including the acquisition of a N2.23bn chopper for the President.

As if the corporation is a government unto itself, it also gave out N700.5m in loan to Sao Tome & Principe, based on instruction from the Presidency. It also allegedly made a curious payment of N2.421bn to a foreign company, Royal Swaziland Sugar Company, the reason for which was not established.

Now, in what looks like a prelude to the NCAA’s effrontery in providing the N255m for Oduah’s ministerial jamboree, the NNPC also reportedly claimed to have underwritten a N521m expenses incurred by the Federal Ministry of Petroleum Resources. This is in addition to the N250m the agency told the committee it spent on court cases involving the ministry.

Despite all the staggering facts, the Jonathan administration has not made any bold step in cutting the corrupt wings of the corporation. Rather, the President recently declared that there is no corruption in Nigeria – this same country where corruption walks on every street, North, South, East and West, in undisguised steps. This happened about a year after Jonathan shocked many people by granting his former boss, Diepreye Alamieyeseigha, state pardon, two years after the ex-Bayelsa State governor served out his jail terms for stealing the state’s money .

While the constitution of the Bello panel should thus make Nigerians hopeful that truth will be established and justice done in the Oduah case, the freshness of such presidential contradictions in the people’s memory readily tempt them to say, ‘Let’s wait and see’.

Since the Jonathan administration is also known for setting up a committee to look at the report of another committee, observers will also hope that he will rather consider the findings of the Bello panel worthy enough to promptly act upon. If this happens, Nigerians will be pleasantly surprised. But if the Jonathan tradition plays out again, many of them will simply say, ‘We saw it coming’.

http://www.punchng.com/news/jonathans-penchant-for-probe-panels/

Wike takes charge of burial of Patience Jonathan’s mom

Published on October 21, 2013 by

Okafor Ofiebor/Port Harcourt

There are clear indications that the Rivers State Government would not have any input in the burial of Mother Charity Onyekwululachiya Fyneface Oba (Mama Sisi), step mother of Dame Patience Jonathan, wife of Nigeria’s president.

The Supervising Minister for Education, Mr Ezebunwo Nyesom Wike, and Governor Rotimi Amaechi’s political foe, has taken charge and has constituted five Committees from the Felix Obuah led Peoples Democratic Party,PDP.

In a statement made available to P.M.NEWS, Felix Obuah the factional Chairman of PDP will chair the mobilization committee, among the five Committees for the burial.

Other committees are Transport, Medical, Accommodation, and Publicity.

Inaugurating the Committees, Wike charged members to ensure the Mother of the First Lady is given a well deserved and successful burial

He also used the occasion to give assurance that the people of Rivers State will participate fully in the planned burial.

Emma Okah, the former Chief Press Secretary, CPS, to former Governor Peter Odili and later Commissioner for Information under the short-lived Celestine Omehia administration chairs the publicity committee.

Jerry Needam, Special Media Adviser to Obuah is Secretary, while Chief Emeh Glory Emeh, former Commissioner for Transport and Chief of Staff to Omehia is a member.

The burial is expected to kick off from 1 November and ceremonies take place in Port Harcourt and Okrika.

Three days ago, Governor Amaechi had gone to the headquarters of National Human Rights Commission, NHRC, to throw light on the petition he wrote against the Commissioner of Police, Mbu Joseph Mbu on infringement on his rights as an elected Governor and that of Rivers people on their rights to free assembly.

Ameachi had told the press thereafter that Mbu takes directives from Mrs. Jonathan, not the Inspector General of Police.

http://pmnewsnigeria.com/2013/10/21/wike-takes-charge-of-burial-of-patience-jonathans-mom/

If only Abati was still at the Guardian newspaper and not Aso rock. Can you imagine what he would have written about these scandals.

N255 million Armoured Cars Scandal: Aviation ministry backtracks, refuses to show cars to journalists

Nnenna Ibeh, Amina Mohammed and Onyinye Muomah Published: October 23,2013

The NCAA boss had claimed the cars could be viewed by journalists.

Four days after the Director General of the Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority, Fola Akinkuotu, bragged before journalists that the two armoured vehicles controversially purchased by his agency for the aviation minister were available for inspection at anytime by journalists, the agency and indeed the Aviation Ministry have refused to make it available for any inspection.

Mr. Akinkuotu had told journalists during a press briefing on Friday evening in Abuja that the cars were parked at the agency’s pool and were available for inspection by journalists.

“The cars are parked at the pool and are available for you (journalists) to see,” he said.

Immediately after the briefing and after answering questions, Mr. Akinkuotu walked out unable to show the vehicles to journalists.

Repeated efforts by PREMIUM TIMES to view the cars since then have been unsuccessful.

While trying to get access to the cars, PREMIUM TIMES first contacted the spokesperson of the Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority, NCAA, spokesperson, Fan Ndubuoke, on Monday. After listening to the reason for the telephone call, Mr. Ndubuoke told our reporter that he was unable to hear her clearly; and promptly terminated the call.

Subsequent calls and text messages went unanswered.

On Tuesday, PREMIUM TIMES visited the Aviation Ministry, where Mr. Akinkuotu had briefed journalists four days earlier.

Efforts to see Mr. Akinkuotu were unsuccessful, with other officials declining to comment on the scandal. However, Joe Obi, the spokesperson for the Aviation Minister, Stella Oduah, was in his office.

A clerk at Mr. Obi’s office attended to our reporter and asked her to wait while he goes to brief his boss about the visit.

“My oga says he is busy that you should go and come back later,” the clerk said, upon returning from Mr. Obi’s office.

“But he did not tell me the time you should come back,” he added.

The reporter decided to wait reminding the clerk that based on the comment of the NCAA boss who spoke on the directive of Mrs. Oduah, Mr. Obi could ask any of his numerous Aviation staff to show her and another waiting reporter the vehicles.

The clerk went inside to deliver the message to Mr. Obi, and returned shortly afterwards with a disgruntled look, saying nothing. About two hours later, he told the reporter who was waiting outside the office (no seat was offered in the office) that Mr. Obi had left the building.

PREMIUM TIMES’ check at the car pool of the minister and other senior officials also showed no sign of any of the exotic BMW armoured cars.

The purchase

The vehicles, two black BMW Li HSS vehicles, with chassis numbers WBAHP41050DW68032 and WBAHP41010DW68044 respectively, were purchased for about N255 million from Coscharis Motors, with payment processed by First Bank of Nigeria.

Mr. Akinkuotu, whose agency purchased the cars on the directive of the minister, said, during his Friday briefing, that the cars were to be used for various NCAA operations, such as transporting the minister, as well as aviation-related foreign dignitaries.

He also claimed that due process was followed in the purchase of the two cars.

PREMIUM TIMES findings, however, revealed that due process, was not followed in the purchase.

The purchase was not contained in the approved budget of the aviation ministry or any of its parastatals including the NCAA, neither was it openly advertised or bidded for.

A member of the Aviation Committee of the House of Representatives, Matthew Omegara, also confirmed that the lawmakers expunged the proposal from the approved budget of the ministry. The House has already ordered an investigation into the scandal, with a report due in a week.

Further investigations also revealed that the price of the cars may have been inflated. A check at Freedom Global Cars, a supplier in the global sales of both luxury and armoured vehicles, showed that a Sapphire black 2012 BMW 760Li High Security car costs £265,000 – including VAT – (about N64 million).

At the press conference on Friday, Mr. Akinkuotu also revealed that the NCAA was probing the source of the leaks that led to public awareness of the purchase of the rather expensive cars. He expressed concern that there might be other confidential information that had been obtained from the agency ‘illegally.’

“It is not fair for someone to obtain information illegally and we must accept that this is not the way to do it.

“If somebody breaks into someone’s office, makes copies of important document; tell me, is the breaking act not criminal?” he asked.

Amidst the calls for the sack of Mrs. Oduah, PREMIUM TIMES exclusively revealed that President Goodluck Jonathan has queried the minister, asking for explanations on the controversy surrounding the purchase.

The query dated October 21 is already a source of worry for Ms. Oduah whose aide on Monday declared that those calling for her sack were those opposed to President Goodluck Jonathan’s 2015 re-election bid.


http://premiumtimesng.com/news/147084-n255-million-armoured-cars-scandal-aviation-ministry-backtracks-refuses-show-cars-journalists.html

NAMA Limo Scandal: Minister Looking For People To Claim Ownership Of Limousines Parked At TRACON In Abuja
Posted: October 22, 2013 - 15:51
Posted by siteadmin

By SaharaReporters, New York
The Minister of Aviation and the authorities of the National Airspace Management Agency (NAMA) have admitted the existence of the four limousines photographed by citizen reporters at the premises of TRACON yesterday, and exclusively reported last night.

The limousines have been at the NAMA premises since June 2013 after they were imported into Nigeria supposedly to move VIPs.

Jolted by SaharaReporters revelations however, the agency has today been shopping for someone to claim the vehicles to enable NAMA and the beleaguered Aviation Minister Stella Oduah arrange a press conference with the phantom owner.

Last night when SaharaReporters confronted NAMA spokesperson, Supo Atobatele about the existence of the limos, he denied the story but immediately shut off his phone as soon as we told him we were in possession of the photographs.

NAMA has not denied the allegations that it purchased four Toyota Tundra cars, which are reportedly in the pool of Mrs. Oduah's oil company, for the Minister.

Our sources say that since last night, frantic efforts have been underway to return them to NAMA offices in order to prepare grounds for the claim that they were being used for "operational purposes".

http://saharareporters.com/news-page/nama-limo-scandal-minister-looking-people-claim-ownership-limousines-parked-tracon-abuja

Not ‘an act of God’
Posted by: Editorial in Editorial 14 hours ago

• Stella Oduah should be fired over purchase of bullet-proof vehicles for her security

Stella Oduah, Nigeria’s aviation minister, is in the news again, barely two weeks after her ministry was under severe criticism over the crash of Associated Airlines plane on October 3 in Lagos. An online news medium, SaharaReporters, had reported that the Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA) bought two BMW bullet-proof cars worth $1.6m (N255m) for the minister. In spite of the fact that the medium gave what seemed vivid details of the transaction, including the bank involved, the motor firm that brought in the vehicles, their chassis numbers as well as the names of the NCAA officials who took delivery of them and even the date of delivery, many Nigerians had patiently waited for the NCAA or even the aviation ministry to debunk the report as a figment of the reporter’s imagination. The market value of each of the vehicles is N36m.

But lo and behold, rather than deny the story, the Ministry of Aviation confirmed that it was true and tried to justify the procurement of the vehicles. The special assistant (media) to the minister, Mr. Joe Obi who confirmed the story said the vehicles were purchased to protect the minister from some external threats that arose because of her activities that have destabilised some entrenched interests in the sector. “When she came on board as the minister, she inherited a lot of baggage in terms of the concession and lease agreements in the sector, which were clearly not in the interest of the government and people of Nigeria. And so, she took bold steps and some of these agreements were reviewed and some were terminated, and these moves disturbed some entrenched interests in the sector, and within this period, she began to receive some imminent threats to her life; therefore, the need for the vehicles,” he said.

Obi concluded that the vehicles were not personal property and would not be taken away by the minister after her tenure. He was however silent on the outrageous cost of the vehicles.

This is ludicrous. Public officials deserve to be protected, but this should not be at prohibitive cost to the taxpayer. Indeed, all Nigerians have security challenges and the best way is to tackle the challenges holistically rather than selectively as has been done in the Ms. Oduah instance. We know she is not alone in this; there are many other public officials who have done worst things with public funds under one pretext or the other. But this is one other expenditure by a public agency that calls to question the process under which items are bought by the agencies. But for the expose by SaharaReporters, Nigerians would not have known about the purchase of the vehicles more than two months after they were delivered.

More important is the fact that our aviation sector has remained troubled over the years. Under the minister’s watch alone, at least two major air crashes had occurred; one on June3, 2012 in Lagos involving Dana Air plane in which 163 people died; and the Associated Airlines crash of October 3, 2013, also in Lagos, which claimed 15 lives. At least, two other air mishaps were recorded this month alone.

It’s high time the aviation minister was removed to halt the worrisome trend in the aviation sector. The simple inference from the mishaps and near mishaps in this troubled sector is that we still have a lot to do to make our airspace safe; yet priorities are not right. Although NCAA’s Director-General, Capt. Fola Akinkuotu, said the authority is not cash-strapped; a better way to demonstrate its buoyancy is by doing the needful to improve the facilities in our airports instead of splashing a whopping N255m on bullet-proof vehicles that should not cost more than N72m for a single individual.

Equally disturbing is Akinkuotu’s statement to the effect that he is more interested in how the transaction leaked. This, however, is inconsequential as far as we are concerned. We are more pertubed by the outrageous cost that he has tried unsuccessfully to justify. The transaction is of public interest and the authority ought to have made it public a long time ago.

Above all, no life is more precious than the other. If Ms Oduah sees accidents as” an act of God” as she claimed after the October 3 crash, why is she now bothered about her personal security? Is that too long for the hands of God to deliver?

http://thenationonlineng.net/new/act-god/

It's a big shame that they still walk free

Outrage over Mark, others’ rejection of N3bn quarters

October 19, 2013 by John Ameh, Fidelis Soriwei, Adelani Adepegba and Friday Olokor 64 Comments


Prominent Nigerians have expressed their dissatisfaction with reports that the principal officers of the National Assembly rejected the official quarters built for them by the Federal Capital Development Authority, describing the project as a waste of money and another means of encouraging corruption.

This came as the principal members of the National Assembly denied ever rejecting any house.

The Minister of the Federal Capital Territory, Bala Mohammed, had at a news conference in Abuja last weekend, stated that the Senate President, David Mark, Speaker, House of Representatives, Aminu Tambuwal and their deputies, along with some other principal officers, had rejected the N3bn official quarters being built for them in Abuja.

Bala had cited insecurity and delay in ‘provision of infrastructure as reasons for the rejection of the official residential buildings. But the National Assembly claimed that the decision to abandon the buildings was that of the FCTA and not that of the presiding officers of the National Assembly.

However, notable Nigerians on Thursday condemned both the decision to build houses for the principal officers and the rejection by the principal officers. They claimed the development was iniquitous as it encouraged corruption.

A former President of the Academic Staff Union of Universities, Prof. Festus Iyayi, said it was illogical for the government to build another set of houses for the affected officers of the Federal legislature only to sell to them again after the end of their tenure.

Iyayi, who was also a former President of the Association of Nigerian Authors, recalled that the official quarters of the affected officers were sold to some of them in line with the government’s policy on monetisation.

Iyayi said, “The first question you have to ask yourself is what happened to the first houses for the principal officers of the house during the Olusegun Obasanjo era.

“I think they want the contract to build the houses. And I think it is wrong. You cannot sell the houses, and build another set.”

The former Publicity Secretary of the defunct Congress for Progressive Change, Rotimi Fashakin, described the rejection of the building at Maitama extension and the move to build fresh ones as “immoral and iniquitous.”

He criticised President Goodluck Jonathan for allowing the corruption and waste of national resources by the FCT Administration and the National Assembly. He alleged that Jonathan supported the act because he needed the lawmakers to “do his rigmarole and chicanery on Nigerians.”

Fashakin stated that the executive, legislative and judiciary organs of government were so corrupt , adding that the Central Bank Governor, Lamido Sanusi, was correct when he said that 25 per cent of the national budget was consumed by about 500 Nigerians.

He said, “I am not surprised the President gave anticipatory approval for the building of new quarters for the National Assembly leadership because he needs them to do his rigmarole and chicanery on Nigerians.

A former member of the House of Representatives and the governorship candidate of the All Progressive Grand Alliance in the 2003 governorship election in Imo State, Mr. Uche Onyeagucha, described the action of the National Assembly leadership as insensitive, unacceptable and deserving of a revolt.

The former lawmaker urged Nigerians to rise against the recurring incident of abuse of office by political office holders.

He said that Mark and other principal members of the National Assembly had bought the official residences for the Senate President and the Speaker, House of Representatives.

“I think it is the height of insensitivity that the Senate President and the Speaker are rejecting the houses in the midst of the mounting poverty in this country.

“It needs to be pointed out that the previous houses for principal officers are still good enough for their habitation. They actually set about building these ones to enable them to buy the previous ones.”

But speaking on behalf of the principal officers, the Chairman, Committee on House Services, Mr. Yakubu Dogara, who claimed to have attended the meeting where the FCTA officials briefed lawmakers on their change of plans, told Saturday PUNCH that it was the minister of the FCT that mooted the idea of discontinuing with the project due to security reasons.

He said, “This was entirely the idea of the FCTA minister. Obviously, there was no contribution from the leadership of the National Assembly at the meeting where he briefed members on this issue.”

Also, the Chief Press Secretary to the Senate President, Mr. Paul Mumeh, dismissed the allegations against his principal as false.

He said, “To the best of our knowledge. There is no iota of truth in it (allegation).”

FCTA minister had said that the President of the Senate, Dr. David Mark, and the Speaker of the House of Representatives, Aminu Tambuwal, rejected the N3bn official quarters for principal officers of the National Assembly because of security reasons.


http://www.punchng.com/news/outrage-over-mark-others-rejection-of-n3bn-quarters/

could they have resold the cars?

With all these allegations against this woman, why is she still a minister?

N255m Bullet-Proof BMW Cars: Stella Oduah Must Go Published on October 17, 2013 by

Aviation Minister, Princess Stella Adaeze Oduah, asked to resign

Nigerian activists and aviation analysts have called on the embattled minister of aviation, Princess Stella Adaeze Oduah, to resign, following the scandal surrounding the purchase of two bullet-proof BMW cars worth N255 million..

The activists said Oduah should resign and should be prosecuted over the two bullet-proof BMW cars purchased for her in August at the cost of N255 million by the Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority, NCAA.

SaharaReporters, an online news medium, had reported on Tuesday that NCAA bought the vehicles worth N255 million for Oduah.

Releasing documents to back up the claims, the medium showed that the transaction for the purchase of the two BMW cars started in June, but the request for the delivery of and payment for the cars was fast-tracked between 13 and 15 August, 2013.

The transaction involved the NCAA, First Bank of Nigeria, and Coscharis Motors Limited.

The two black BMW Li HSS vehicles have chasis numbers WBAHP41050DW68032 and WBAHP41010DW68044, and were reportedly delivered to the NCAA on 13 August, 2013.

They were received by two store managers, F. Onoabhagbe and Y. A. Amzat, who is also the agency’s head of transport.

Stakeholders, activists and analysts have reacted angrily at the allegations and have called on Oduah to go or be sacked by President Goodluck Jonathan.

“The minister of aviation should not only resign, she should be prosecuted. I call on the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, to take up that matter and investigate it properly,” said Mohammed Tukur, Assistant General Secretary, Airline Operators of Nigeria, AON.

“I don’t know who gave her the authority to purchase such cars because the man who was in charge at the NCAA, was just an acting DG. He was not the DG of the NCAA,” Tukur added.

Tukur said he has received reliable information that the NCAA is broke and training has dwindled.

According to the President Aviation Round Table, ART, Captain Dele Ore, there are more revelations that will soon be made public against the minister.

“The bubble will soon burst. When she leaves office, everything will come out. If she does not want to resign, she should remain there and let’s see how the bullet-proof vehicles will protect and save her,” he said.

To the Secretary General of National Union of Air Transport Employees, NUATE, Abdulkareem Motajo, the minister has committed many atrocities and should be arrested.

“Asking for her to go is not enough, the minister has committed many atrocities and many of them have been written in the newspapers but nothing has been done about it,” he said.

“She should go and she should be arrested and probed also. We are also very angry at the National Assembly for not taking any action against the minister regarding the atrocities that she has commited,” he added.

According to the National President, Air Transport Services Senior Staff Association of Nigeria, ATSSSAN, Benjamin Okewu, the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, should step in.

“What I think is that she should go and EFCC should come in and apprehend her immediately since she does not have immunity.

“There are several other allegations that even in NAMA there have been purchases of many things for the minister and these reckless expenditures by the minister are unacceptable,” Okewu said.

Comrade Debo Adeniran, Executive Chairman, Coalition Against Corrupt Leaders, CACOL, said the corruption allegations are proof that the recent air disasters in Nigeria are due to corruption and incompetence.

“When she asked the Nigeria Civil Aviation Authority to get her bulletproof cars worth $1.6m (about N255m) because of threats to her life, where did she expect them to get the money?” Adeniran asked.

“She expected them to compromise standard of course! It is now clear that the frequent air accidents are products of corruption and incompetence in our aviation sector.”

Adeniran said it is no longer surprising that the minister could ascribe her incompetence to God.

“The truth remains that if Nigeria Civil Aviation Authority is doing a proper job and not collecting bribes to satisfy the ostentatious lifestyle of Stella Oduah, they would have been able to avert some of these accidents. With proper safety regulations in place, the frequency of air crashes can be drastically reduced,” Adeniran said.

To Olumide Ohunayo, an aviation activist, calls for the minister’s resignation may be hasty.

“Well I think its a bit hasty, the allegations listed online were numerous and a careful investigation is necessary, considering the present safety apprehension in the industry.

“I look forward to a clinical review of the relationship between the ministry and its agencies,” he said.

—Simon Ateba

http://premiumtimesng.com/news/146751-nigeria-aviation-ministry-justifies-purchase-n225-million-vehicles-minister-oduah.html

NCAA Broke, Inspectors Accept Bribe

Published on October 14, 2013 by
The Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority, NCAA, is broke, and aircraft inspectors are not being paid allowances on time, a report alleged on Monday.

The report quoted an aircraft inspector as saying that safety is compromised because of the inability of the NCAA to pay inspectors their allowances as at when due.

Training has also dwindled in recent time, the inspector said.

The revelation comes less than two weeks after a faulty Associated Airline plane crashed in Lagos, southwestern Nigeria, killing 15 people.

It also comes only a day after an IRS plane loaded with 89 passengers was involved in an emergency landing at the Kaduna airport on Sunday.

Passengers had to disembark on the runway as firefighters and other emergency teams surrounded the airport.

“Aircraft inspectors’ allowances are not being paid as at when due, leaving us to the open temptations of bribe and compromise from corrupt and desperate airline operators who want their planes to fly at all costs,” the inspector was quoted as saying.

The anonymous source was not allowed to speak to the press.

The report also quoted a source as saying that the NCAA is broke and is struggling to procure its basic needs. This, the source claimed, could seriously affect safety.

“Some of us that are due for training overseas are asked to fund our training and come back for a refund after the training. This is absurd and they keep saying they are broke,” the source said.

Fola Akinkuotu, NCAA Director General and its spokesperson, Fan Ndubuoke, did not answer requests from our reporter. The text messages sent to them were ignored.

—Simon Ateba

http://pmnewsnigeria.com/2013/10/14/ncaa-broke-inspectors-accept-bribe/

Jonathan’s motives suspect, says Tinubu
Posted by: Emmanuel Oladesu in Featured, News 13 hours ago

All Progressives Congress (APC) leader Asiwaju Bola Tinubu yesterday justified his opposition to the national conference proposed by President Goodluck Jonathan, insisting that the President’s motives are suspect.

He said although he is an unrepentant supporter of a Sovereign National Conference, he was wary of a “rushed embrace”, owing to President Jonathan’s antecedent as an antagonist of the idea.

The former Lagos State governor opposed the proposed conference when he returned from a medical trip abroad. His comment drew criticisms from some proponents of the conference.

Tinubu faulted the proposal, based on its timing, stressing that government’s sincerity is questionable.

He said: “Though I remain an unrepentant supporter of a genuine Sovereign National Conference, I am suspicious of this present concoction because it is half-baked and fully deceptive. Government’s sincerity is questionable; the timing is also suspect. Now that this government is sinking in a pool of political and economic hot water of its own making, it seizes hold of the national conference idea as if it were a life jacket.”

In a statement in Lagos, the APC leader urged Nigerians to beam the searchlight on the proposed conference, insisting that it is a ‘Greek’ gift and public deception.

He stressed: “President Jonathan’s epiphany–if epiphany it is and not an expedient calculated to enhance his 2015 re-election bid – should be subjected to searching questions.

“It is difficult to lay aside the suspicion that his sudden conversion is all about 2015. Otherwise, why the sudden endorsement of a national conference, not merely in principle, but with a rush toward some form of implementation? What has happened that was not already in play in all those years during which the authorities rejected demands for a national conference?”

Justifying his opposition to the conference, despite its seeming popularity, Tinubu maintained that the Federal Government should address “the fundamental questions about the timing, sincerity and, most importantly, the capability and credibility of the President to deliver a genuine national conference”.

He went on: “How credible, reliable and capable is the current President to be able to midwife a critical conference, such as this? Will this President be sincere enough to let all the issues that are on the agenda be exhaustively discussed at the conference? Will this President have the guts to implement fully all final resolutions of the conference, without fear or favour or any pandering”?

The former governor alluded to the events that heralded the announcement of a conference by the President, recalling that despite the previous opposition to it by the legislative and executive arms, the President suddenly made the announcement, following its endorsement by Senate President David Mark, who had also criticised the agitation, barely three months earlier.

Noting the change of heart by the President and the Senate President, he said: “I, like other well-meaning Nigerians, must welcome this shift. It is an admission, at last, that the wide cracks in the national fabric can no longer be papered over, and that the time has come for fresh thinking on fundamental problems, the existence of which has for too long been denied.”

Tinubu’s opposition was informed, according to him, by historical experience and the government’s shortfalls in sincerity and capability.

He said: “This is an administration that has been known to have flip- flopped on so many critical issues of national importance. President Jonathan was part of two issues of national importance in the recent past; amnesty and the Uwais Panel on electoral reform. We all know what has happened to these two issues.

“The amnesty conceived from inception has been corrupted and hijacked by the President’s clique. It is one of Nigeria’s drain pipes. A slush fund for political expeditions and a conduit to siphon money to the boys. The Uwais Panel report gathers dust and suffers from constant cherry picking. What about the much-publicized SURE-P initiative of this administration? “Another ill-conceived and fraudulently implemented programme of this administration. Billions of naira have so far disappeared into private pockets and the treasury still bleeds. I can go on and on. Is this the leader we want to trust with organising a national dialogue or is it conference they call it? Where is the capability? Where is the sincerity? Where is the presence of mind?”

Stressing that sincerity is fundamental, the APC leader added: “It is difficult to lay aside the suspicion that his sudden conversion is all about 2015. Otherwise, why the sudden endorsement of a National Conference, not merely in principle, but with a rush toward some form of implementation? What has happened that was not already in play in all those years during which the authorities rejected demands for a National Conference? This government cannot hold a National Conference anymore than a comatose man can stand and hold up a candle that the rest of us might see our way to a better Nigeria.”

Tinubu also raised some posers for the organisers of the conference at a time the polity is preparing for the next elections. He asked: “Would staging a National Conference in such a setting not overheat the polity? Would it not be better to defer the Conference until after the general elections? There is still so much to do to ensure that the election is free and fair, conforms to best practices, and represents the will of the people.”

Tinubu suggested some conditions for the convocation of the conference to prevent it from becoming another public relations ploy to whitewash government’s tarnished record.

He said: “If the conference must be held now, we must return to the spade work already done by the Obasanjo government in the aspect of constitutional review. Let the Jonathan government bring it out, remove the third term toxic component and set up a technical review committee to examine the 118 recommendations therein. The process came up with 118 recommendations, most of which were far reaching and dealt with critical and the contentious issues of nationhood. We must continue from where we disagreed. Nation building is a progressive work and to totally jettison the considerable spade work already done will set back the hands of the clock.”

Secondly, Tinubu advised that the Uwais recommendations on electoral reforms be implemented. “That report was the work of eminent Nigerians and it was done after widespread consultations with constituencies far and wide. We all know that our electoral system is broken and unfair. If the President has done nothing to fully implement this corrective report that would fix a system so blatantly broken, why would he implement recommendations of national conference if those recommendations do not suit his narrow purposes?

“The government should first implement this important work in order to demonstrate to Nigerians that it can hold and honon the outcome of a National dialogue. This government should do so to show that it has nothing to hide and is willing to engage in the upcoming electoral contest on a level playing field.”

Tinubu said while he agreed that “Nigerians need to talk, the midwife must be trustworthy”, adding that “if we get this wrong, the future will be fraught with dangers”.

He also said that “Nigeria is adrift and unless we start a discourse aimed at updating and improving our political economy and its structures, we might wake up one day from a night devoid of dreams because we have turned into a nation devoid of hope”.

http://thenationonlineng.net/new/jonathans-motives-suspect-says-tinubu/