N255m cars scandal: Stella Oduah to defend herself on Wednesday – Reps

The House of Representatives has given the
Aviation Minister, Stella Oduah, a 24-hour
additional time to appear before its Aviation
Committee currently investigating the
controversial acquisition of N255 million BMW
armoured cars.
The hearing that was earlier scheduled for
today will now hold on Wednesday at 12pm.
The legislators have asked Ms. Oduah to return
to Nigeria from Israel where she travelled to
last week as a member of President Goodluck
Jonathan’s delegation to the country.
“This is to notify all stakeholders and the
general public that day 2 Public Hearing of
House Committee on Aviation on the purchase
of two BMW cars by Nigerian Civil Aviation
Authority (NCAA) earlier slated for Tuesday, 29
October, 2013 has been postponed to
Wednesday, 30th October 2013,” the
committee said in a statement on Monday.
The Committee has promised to do a thorough
job in its week-long probe to uncover the facts
behind the controversial purchase which has
drew the ire of Nigerians.
Officials of the NCAA
attended the first hearing,
but are to present more documents this week.
First Bank, financier of the purchase, and
Coscharis, the supplier of the cars, are yet to
make submissions.
The Committee yesterday said the hearing will
now hold on Wednesday to allow all those
invited, including the Nigerian Civil Aviation
Authority, NCAA, First Bank, Coscharis, to fully
prepare.
The Chairman of the Committee, Nkiruka
Onyejeocha, had said the call for the sack of
Oduah was “too early”, saying it is only fair to
allow Oduah state her own side of the story.
Addressing journalists on Saturday, she said
“For me, she (Ms. Oduah) is entitled to fair
hearing and of course, you have to get to the
bridge before you cross it. It is too early to
call for somebody’s resignation because one of
the questions we asked was; have they bought
the cars; was it appropriated for under any
Nigerian law?
“When that investigation is concluded, then we
know who should be asked to resign. So for
me, it is too early to just begin to say so.”
Since the controversial purchase became
public knowledge, several groups and activists
have demanded the Minister’s resignation to
allow for proper investigation.
It would be recalled that the presidency last
Wednesday announced that a three-man probe
panel headed by the National Security Adviser,
Col. Sambo Dasuki (rtd), investigate the
scandal.