N255m Armoured Cars: Activists Demand Oduah’s Resignation

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Nigerian activists and aviation analysts have called on the embattled Minister of Aviation, Ms. Stella Oduah, to resign, following the scandal surrounding the purchase of two bulletproof BMW cars worth N255 million.

According to a report by a Lagos-based evening newspaper, PM News, the activists said Oduah should resign and should be prosecuted over the purchase of the cars done by the Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA) for her.

They called on President Goodluck Jonathan to sack her if she fails to resign.

“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 had received reliable information that the NCAA was broke and training had 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 EFCC 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.

Mr. 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 NCAA 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.