₦airaland Forum

One week gone without any work, the administrative panel asked to probe Stella Oduah’s acquisition of two exotic cars has a week to go.

The three-member panel commissioned Wednesday
by President Goodluck Jonathan to investigate the
purchase of two armoured cars by aviation minister,
Stella Oduah, at an inflated cost N255 million, has
yet to begin work a week after, reliable sources
familiar with the matter have told PREMIUM TIMES.

The committee, chaired by the immediate past Head of Service, Sali Bello, with the National Security Adviser, NSA, Colonel Sambo Dasuki, and Air vice Marshal Dik Iruenebere as members, has held no meetings, and has not even conducted preliminary examination of the controversial procurement.

The reason for the delay, officials who spoke to
PREMIUM TIMES said, was because the NSA, Mr.
Dasuki, was out of the country with Mr. Jonathan who is visiting Israel, and is due to return to Nigeria laterTuesday. The NSA, Mr. Dasuki, will also return
alongside the president, officials said.

The office of the NSA is serving as the secretariat for the committee and in Mr. Dasuki’s absence, no work has been done by panel.

The delay surrounding the investigation would
appear to further strengthen concerns over just how
much attention the government has accorded the
scandal that has outraged Nigerians.

With a two-week mandate from the president, the
committee is left with seven days to fully investigate whether or not the purchase was listed in the budget, and whether or not stipulated procurement due process were followed.

The panel will also confirm, officially, whether the two armoured BMW brands were indeed imported into the country with adequate security clearance from the NSA’s office, a requirement for all armour-fitted vehicles imported into the country.

Establishing that security compliance has become
central to the committee’s work amid growing
concerns about the possibility that Ms Oduah, and
the Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority, NCAA, which
carried out the purchase at the minister’s directive,
may have spun a mere paper process as cover to
launder money.

PREMIUM TIMES has confirmed from top security
officials that the two cars are not listed anywhere by the office of the NSA as having been issued the End User Certificate, a compulsory permit for all
armoured cars in the country.

“We have thoroughly checked our list and I can
confirm that at no time did we issue end user
certificate to anyone to procure any such cars,” one
source told PREMIUM TIMES on Sunday.

“It is a serious violation, and the minister and other people involved have a lot of explanations to make.”

Separately, the House of Representatives committee on aviation, which is also investigating the transaction, has confirmed that the contract was unauthorized and not approved in the budget.
The Bureau of Public Procurement, BPP, has also made it clear the purchase was not openly bided for as required by law.

But while the House committee, which began its
investigation on Tuesday, has held one public
hearing and has scheduled a second on Wednesday,
the presidential panel has yet to sit.

Ms Oduah is expected to testify at the House hearing on Wednesday, having failed to attend the first hearing as she was also in Israel with Mr Jonathan.

President Jonathan has been criticised for allowing
the minister travel while under investigation, at a
time many Nigerian demand that she be fired or
suspended while investigations continue.

“The egregious act of putting the minister on his
entourage, at a time she is at the centre of a terrible
scandal, calls to question the President’s sense of
propriety and his commitment to the war against
corruption,” the APC said in a statement on Sunday
by its spokesperson, Lai Mohammed.”

This indecorous action of making a minister who is under investigation for monumental corruption and abuse of office one of the faces of Nigeria in a foreign land is an embarrassment to the country and its people, and a further dent on the poor image of the Jonathan administration.”




premiumtimesng.com/news/147483-jonathans-panel-yet-commence-probe-n255million-car-scandal-week.html

A Senate committee holding hearings into the
aviation sector in Nigeria today shockingly heard
how the Aviation Minister Stella Oduah spent
$1.6 million on the purchase of two armored cars
today, also the committee received further
confirmation that the minister received several
other cars from another agency under her control.
George Uresi, the chief executive officer of the
Federal Aviation Authority of Nigeria (FAAN),
admitted before the Senate’s aviation committee,
led by Hope Uzodinma, that FAAN bought four
bullet proof cars for Ms. Oduah at N70 million
each. SaharaReporters, which broke the news of
how the minister forced the Nigerian Civil Aviation
Authority (NCAA) to buy her two bullet-proof
BMWs at the inflated cost of $800,000 each, had
also subsequently reported that other agencies
under Ms. Oduah had also bought her extremely
expensive, overpriced cars.

Mr. Uresi’s testimony today confirmed our earlier
reports that the minister hauled in at least six
armored cars from a variety of aviation agencies.
Our correspondent reported that Mr. Uresi, the
CEO of FAAN, sweated profusely as he told
Senator Uzodinma’s committee that FAAN bought
four bullet-proof cars for Ms. Oduah. “He was
sweating bullets even though the committee
room was heavily air-conditioned,” said our citizen
reporter.

The FAAN boss’s testimony revealed that the
transaction resembled how the Nigerian Civil
Aviation Authority (NCAA) bought two BMW
armored cars for the minister at inflated price.
According to Mr. Uresi, FAAN bought two armored
Lexus limousine cars and two Prado armored
sports utility vehicles (SUVs) for Ms. Oduah.
Contacted later this evening, a member of the
Senate’s aviation committee told SaharaReporters
that he had heard rumors that the leadership of
the committee was looking for ways to cover up
Ms. Oduah’s car-buying scandal. “Some of us will
not allow anybody to cover up anything,” said the
senator.

Senator Uzodinma gave Mr. Uresi till Monday to
provide the paperwork for the purchase of the four
cars his agency procured for the minister’s use.
Meanwhile, a source who works at FAAN told
SaharaReporters that the deal for the purchase of
the cars was done through a company linked to
Ms. Oduah. “The finance department of FAAN was
not in the know of the purchase as the deal was
done at the minister’s office with Uresi signing off
on the deal.”

Although Mr. Uresi admitted to the purchase, he
refused to provide the Senate committee
members with details of how the deal was
finalized with a bank. He also refused to disclose if
Coscharis Motors Limited was involved in the
latest scandal. Coscharis Motors, which is owned
by Cosmas Maduka, was involved in the shady
deal for the supply of the two BMWs paid for by
the NCAA for the personal use of the minister.
SaharaReporters reported earlier that Ms. Oduah
received more than N100 million as kickback after
she arm-twisted NCAA officials to sign papers
certifying delivery of the two cars. No officials of
the agency ever saw the vehicles before signing
the delivery documents.

SaharaReporters had also reported that another
agency, National Airspace Management Agency
(NAMA), also bought four Toyota Tundras for the
minister. After our revelation, NAMA authorities
went on a desperate search for companies to
claim ownership of four limousines parked at the
aviation agency’s TRACON site in Abuja. Today,
the Senate asked NAMA officials to bring over the
supposed owners of the vehicles along with proof
of their ownership.

In the end, NAMA claimed that the vehicles
belong to a local airline, Overland Airways. But in
a clear indication of fishiness, some other
company had called SaharaReporters to claim
ownership of the limousines.

Ms. Oduah is expected to appear before the House
of Representative tomorrow (Wednesday) to
answer questions on the scandal of the $1.6
million she squandered on the purchase of two
armored BMW cars.

In the wake of our revelations of the minister’s
car-buying spree, she traveled to Israel as part of
President Goodluck Jonathan’s official delegation
to religious sites in that country. Mrs. Oduah
returned to Nigeria on Monday night a few
minutes after she attended a ceremony where a
Bilateral Services Agreement was signed with
Israel.







mobile.saharareporters.com/news-page/senate-hears-how-nigerias-aviation-minister-used-federal-airport-authority-nigeria-buy-fou

The question these dumb leaders of ours should be asking themselves is, has the United States' military intervention anywhere in the world made that place any safer

If anything, they would rather work towards making their prediction of Nigeria ceasing to be a single entity come 2015.

Jonathan and his band of circus performers are gradually ceding the sovereignty of this country to foreigners! Should anything happen, they should be held responsible!!

StarBoard: Barney Jonathan and his cast of cartoon characters ...

Barney and Friends..

Arobam: Most corrupt leader because of a 255m scandal involving an autonomous parastatal in the Aviation sector? That amount will make APC governors laugh in the face of the 1 Billion Naira they use(steal) in constructing a kilometer of road in the South West.

See http://pointblanknews.com/pbn/exclusive/buharis-spokesman-accuses-acn-governors-of-corruption-says-they-award-one-kilometer-road-for-one-billion-naira/

Do I need to talk about Tinubu's Alpha Beta and their looting of Lagos Taxpayers money or the 1.68km Lekki-Ikoyi link bridge which cost a whooping $300m/29Billion? Do we need to talk about the scandalous Lekki-Epe expressway buy back?

APC Governors will rank as the most corrupt ever.

Ostrich syndrome.
He's the most corrupt for stealing over 1.6trillion naira in a single year!! Abacha has got nothing on this dude.

OP this your title sef..

Who the hell is linda ikeji that Ishiomole should be "at war" with

Coscharis should also be called in to explain their role in this sleaze. Somebody has to go down in that dealership as well to serve as a deterrent to other corporate establishment who connive with public officials to perpetrate fraud.

This woman simply forged documents in connivance with the auto dealership and laundered the money, simple. It is an act pervasive in virtually all government agencies. All the players involved in this despicable act of theft must be punished.

Another exclusive from the circus clown. Can some1 call Ayo to order That man is a disgrace to christiandom in Nigeria!

Are the people getting these jobs ghosts

AWONEYAN: Have guys read this agreement? How will a professor be asking for a special allowance for supervising a post grad student (most of dem dnt teach undergrad again oo) also asking for stress allowance ( what's stressful in seling handouts ask a trafic police man what is stress) if 20% of d budget goes to education ?must all of d 20% goes to uni, what of NUT,polythecnics and college of edu? What about all d damn internally generated funds of dis uni,80,000 for predegree, post ume 20,000 yet no body ask u for remitance, u want fg to fund state uni. E.t.c.
I believe we need to ask those guys who signed the damn agreement if they were hypnotized or they can't comprehend d big grammer ASUU used in drafting d letter.dy were just signing after a cup of coffee

Was the government blindfolded when signing the agreement or do they lack ability to comprehend basic english

taharqa: @ OP, am still waiting for you to say: 'Amen' o.....

And if I don't

kasiem: why did gowon fail aburi agreement and u guys are praising him for that?

Who is "you guys"

Another failed diversionary attempt. That he took pictures beside an exotic car doesn't mean it belongs to him.

By the way, it has been discovered that the bulletproof cars your aunt said she bought weren't even delivered. Just papers claiming they were exist!!

Now she's looking at charges of fraud, forgery, and perjury!!

Eze Promoe: [color=crimson]Who told you they were bribed?
Her good works is showing for her. She is loved by all Nigerians except for Hausas and Yorubas.[/color]

I'm neither Hausa nor Yoruba and she disgust me!!

nig2change: Rubbish. Height of joblessness. We lack investigative journalists.

Agreement na agreement!!!
They should collect the loots from Alams, Ibori, Obj, Atiku, IBB, Abacha, Timipre, Patience Jonathan, David Mark, Dan Etete, Aondokaa, and co, and pay up the damn allowances, and fund the damn institutions!

[quote author=L.M Ayedun..]What/who is Shepopotamus?[/quote]Welcome home bro. How was your trip to Mars??
A lot happened while u were away oo. New words found their way into the nigerian lexicon.

Shepopotamus (n)(singular): A female hippopotamus of the genus from the Niger Delta.

Shepo (short form).

Eg. The shepopotamus is an insatiable gourmand with an annual culinary budget of 1Billion naira.

nedu2000: so 'cos they lack credibity oduah should be left off the hook,is that what ur implying?

Nah. U misunderstand me. I'm all for prosecution of Oduah even if Alamieseigha is the judge, but I'm saying due to their inaction regarding the cases of their colleagues, they may find it quite difficult to carry out their threat.

Woe betide anyone who raises a voice in suport of this blatant theft!

Suspicion that Aviation Minister Stella Oduah might
not have actually procured the controversial
N255million armoured cars is gaining traction in the nation’s security circle, with operatives trying to
understand whether the minister merely
masterminded a paper process to launder public
funds.

PREMIUM TIMES can authoritatively report today that the bullet-proof cars are not on government’s official list of armoured cars available anywhere in the country.

Car dealers as well as end users of reinforced cars
such as those Mrs. Oduah claimed to have procured
to ward off “imminent threats”, are mandated to
seek authorization from the office of the National
Security Adviser, NSA, before ordering or importing
such vehicles into Nigeria.

Under that regulation, no car dealer or end user,
including private individuals security agencies, and
government parastatals can bring in armoured cars
into the country without obtaining end user
certificates from the office of the NSA in Abuja.
But reliable sources at the office of the NSA told
PREMIUM TIMES no authorization certificate was ever issued to either Minister Oduah or the Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority, NCAA, to procure the
controversial vehicles.

“We have thoroughly checked our list and I can
confirm that at no time did we we issue end user
certificate to anyone to procure any such cars,” one
of our sources said. “It is likely the cars do not exist
and that the documents were either forged to steal
public funds. But if the cars indeed exist, the
minister, the NCAA and Coscharis Motors will have to explain why they sneaked vehicles into our country without authorization.

“It is a serious violation, and the minister and other
people involved have a lot of explanations to make.” Another source said the the National Security Adviser, Sambo Dasuki, was appointed into the three-member administrative panel appointed by President Goodluck Jonathan to probe the
procurement of the cars specifically to determine
whether the purchase of the vehicles did not breach
Nigeria’s security regulations.

Contacted Thursday over the matter, Mr. Dasuki said he would not comment on any aspect of his
committee’s work because he is not the chairman of
the panel. “My office is only serving as the committee’s secretariat,” Mr. Dasuki said. “I am not the chairman. And you have to wait for us to complete our work. The question you asked (whether end user certificate was issued for the vehicles) is one of the issues we
will look into.”

Although the NSA was evasive, top officials of his
office told this newspaper that an internal review had long established that the controversial Stella
Oduah’s cars are not on the lists of armoured cars
known to the authorities.

This new finding raises more doubt as to whether the cars were procured reinforced, a reason the aviation ministry cited for the alarming cost of the
automobiles, or whether the cars were even bought
at all.

There are suggestions the ministers and the NCAA
prepared the documents in circulation to cover up
the looting of public funds. That suggestion is strengthened by the refusal of the NCAA and the minister to allow PREMIUM TIMES access to inspect the cars despite initially claiming the vehicles were open to viewing by interested
journalists.

The purchase of the cars have also been found to
violate Nigeria’s appropriation and procurement
laws: the transaction was neither in government
budget nor was it advertised or openly bided for. The contract cost is also believed to have been inflated multiple folds.

Together, the violations have added to widespread
outrage over the relevance of a multimillion car
purchase when majority of Nigerians cannot feed.
Still, a more distressing possibility could be that the
cars were never purchased, and the deal was only
sealed on paper as a cover for money laundering.
The ministry of aviation and the NCAA, the agency
directed by Mrs Oduah to make the purchase for her, claim the two BMW sedans were bought steel-clad to keep Mrs Oduah safe from “imminent threats”.

The NCAA director general, Fola Akinkuotu, said the
practice of using reinforced cars for conveying
aviation ministers and foreign aviation dignitaries-
who he said were also beneficiaries of the cars-was a standard global practice.

Amid mounting calls for Mrs Oduah’s removal, and
for sanctions against all aviation officials involved in
the scam, President Goodluck Jonathan named a
three-member committee Wednesday to review the
contract and submit its findings in 14 days.
Separately, the minister, alongside NCAA officials, as well as officials of Coscharis motors, the suppliers of the cars, and First Bank Plc, the financiers, are to appear before the House of Representatives standing aviation committee. The director general, Bureau of Public Procurement, is also expected to attend the
hearing.

Mrs. Oduah jetted out to Israel on Tuesday, travelling with President Goodluck Jonathan for pilgrimage in Jerusalem. She was not available for the House hearing Thursday.

More Inconsistencies:

The House hearing established, to a large extent,
that the purchase of the cars were clearly against
government regulations and laws. Also, PREMIUM TIMES careful perusal of the contract papers revealed even more conflicting details about
the transaction, with recorded dates and figures
contradicting each other.

While the NCAA purportedly originated the contract
in August, with the first letter of order to Coscharis
written on the 13th of that month, documents
originating from the car firm show that the deal was
long sealed in June and the car released at the same
time.

The vehicle release checklist by Coscharis Motors was signed on June 25 with all basic functions of the cars approved as being in order. There is also discrepancy in the contract sum. While
Coscharis Motors listed the two cars as costing N225 million on the Goods Received Note of August 14, the NCAA approved N255 million, a difference of N30 million.

In all of Coscharis documents, nowhere was the
figure N255 million used.




premiumtimesng.com/news/147362-exclusive-stella-oduah-fresh-trouble-n255m-armoured-cars-missing-nsas-security-list.html

An ogogoro seller just like shepopotamus!!

She can be pictured in Taj Mahal for all we care.

Even perjury is now on the plate. She said BPE was present during the bidding, a claim BPE denied!

naijaking1: Where was the boko haram wounded lion when one of them was stuffing dollar bills into his hat
Born to rule never disappoints to their followers.

What has boko haram got to do with this

But kai, Farouk, our soft spoken amiable Farouk, messed himself up big time!!! I remember the enormous respect he commanded amongst Nigerian from all devides. How we would have loved for him to still be the big player he once was, but greed got best of him and now his lips have been sealed forever. Now he can't speak on any national issue any longer! Such a pitty.

The moral burden on the house is too heavy for
them to attempt such. Faroukgate, Hembegate,
Elumelugate, Ettehgate, and all the other "gates" easily come to mind.

Besides, do they really have such powers

The moral burden on the house is too heavy for them to attempt such. Faroukgate, Hembegate, Elumelugate, Ettehgate, etc easily come to mind.

Besides, do they really have such powers

Do that and you'd see that no politician or "big man" would ever be found guilty of the crime!!

Not surprised an ex military personnel led the brutal assault. The strategy used this time in indeed very clever, pulling them out and then going behind their back to ravage and plunder their base!!

Amidst all these, Abuja is busy playing politics with this crises which poses an existential threat to the Republic.

We shall overcome someday.

As for the vibration, you might want to check that vacuum hose that leaves the throttle body down to the rear engine sitting. Start the car, put on the AC and observe how the engine vibrates and its sound as well. Then disconect that vacuum hose that originates from the top of the throttle body and see is there's any noticeable reduction in vibration and an increase in the RPM. If this occurs then you found the culprit. Best of luck.

Nice topic. Indeed some songs make drivers go faster!!

As for me, "bury me a G" by Rick Ross and "martian Vs goblins" by the Game ft Lil Wayne..

Make me push that gas like I've got 9 lives and don't give a fcvk!!

“Is it because she is a woman? Other people had
been in that office. She will leave one day and
another person will occupy it,”

And someone would tell me respect a nigga like this. So because she's not going to be there for ever, she should be allowed to run the ministry aground with her insatiable greed and when a successor takes over, they can do thesame...

Is there realy ever going to be a day when we start thinking "Nigeria" in this country