The House committee had investigated Mrs. Oduah after she directed the Nigerian Civil Aviation Authroity, NCAA, an agency under her supervision to purchase two bulletproof cars at a cost beyond her official approval limit as minister.
The contract breached the federal appropriation and public procurement laws, as it was neither budgeted for by government nor was it publicly advertised and bided for.
Mrs. Oduah claimed she did nothing wrong as funding for the cars, made available for First Bank, was arranged to comply with her spending limit and relevant laws. She said the purchase was not done in her name.
At its plenary Thursday, the House approved a recommendation asking President Goodluck Jonathan to “review the continued engagement” of Mrs. Oduah.
The House also called on the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, to further investigate other officials involved in the scam and the car supplier, Coscharis Motors.
In an immediate reaction, Mrs. Oduah said she was “disappointed and shocked” at the decision. She said the lawmakers brushed aside a “deluge” of evidence to implicate her.
“We are shocked and disappointed that in spite of the deluge of representations and evidences provided by the Aviation Minister, Stella Oduah and ail invited stakeholders on the matter, the House would reach conclusions that have only confirmed that there was a hidden Agenda in the entire exercise from the beginning,” a statement by the minister’s office said.
The minister said the decision only proved the House’s “underhand tactics” which had long manifested in the decision of some members of the committee to leak copies of the report to the media.
Mrs. Oduah reiterated her earlier claim of innocence and said all decisions she took on the procurement followed due process.
“We stand by our earlier submissions to the committee that Due Process was followed in the procurement of the vehicles by the NCAA. The Minister told the Public Hearing; and her evidence was corroborated by the NCAA that the cars were neither purchased for her nor in her name,” she said.
“Evidence also shows that the cars in question were included as a line item under the “safety and Security vehicles” sub-head in the Appropriation Act. The position of the committee that this was not included the budget is spurious as clear evidence exists in the Appropriation Act as stated above.”
She said the action of the committee and the House were “pre-medicated with the sole aim of casting aspersion on the person and office of the Aviation Minister.” Click to signup for FREE news updates, latest information and hottest gists everyday
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Oh yes sack her. But oga honorable, excellency, highness Reps kindly tell us about farouk na
ReplyDeleteYes, she must be sack i mean oduah. but mr honuurable/imperial majesty what about farouk saga, i know something is wrong somewhere.@ pmd
ReplyDeleteWe are in a crazy country. The honourable minister doesn't have to personally go out to buy the 255M cars. In other climes, she would have simply resigned taking vicarious responsibility for it.
ReplyDeleteThis is not a curse, but the way Nigeria is presently designed and the mentality of her people, we are NOT going to make any progress no matter how much we try. Corruption and immorality has soaked every cell in our bodies from the petrol attendant at a filling station to the Presidency. Until drastic surgery is conducted on the patient (Nigeria) using the Chinese techniques, there is no hope for her survival.
Why people are complaining about the present administration is that it takes risk that cost Nigerians so much to pay.
ReplyDeleteThe voice of the people is the voice of God.The masses have spoken,remove this woman ,why still retainning her .or is GEJ using her as a machinery to embezzle the public money?
GEJ second name is Corruption
ReplyDeleteCan you prove that gej is corrupt.he is second to buhari in honesty.may be his govt is.
ReplyDelete