Bullet-proof cars: FG silent on Oduah probe

Jonathan set up the three-man committee, headed by erstwhile head of service Isa Bello Sali, on October 23 with a two-week deadline to investigate the cars purchase scandal and submit a report.The bullet-proof BMW cars were bought at N255 million in a process that allegedly flouted procurement regulations. The prices are also widely considered outrageous.Several […]

Jonathan set up the three-man committee, headed by erstwhile head of service Isa Bello Sali, on October 23 with a two-week deadline to investigate the cars purchase scandal and submit a report.
The bullet-proof BMW cars were bought at N255 million in a process that allegedly flouted procurement regulations. The prices are also widely considered outrageous.
Several telephone calls between Monday and yesterday to Sam Nwaobasi, the spokesman for the Secretary to the Government of the Federation, were not answered. A text message sent to him seeking for information on progress of the panel’s work was also not replied to.
The Sali-led committee has National Security Adviser Sambo Dasuki and Air Vice Marshal Dick Iruenebere as members.
Indication that the panel would have a stuttering start was obvious from the beginning, as Jonathan travelled to Israel along with the embattled minister and Dasuki soon after naming the committee.
Also, the committee members received letters of their appointment only penultimate Monday, nearly a week after the panel was announced.
When Daily Trust called Sali’s phone number last night, it rang but was not answered.
The committee’s terms of reference are to “examine the circumstances surrounding the purchase, particularly whether or not there were budgetary provisions for it and identify all actors involved in the purchase.”
The panel is to also determine Oduah’s “role…in the purchase and ascertain the cost of the vehicles, its purpose and procurement process followed, inquire into any other matters incidental to the purchase/procurement of the vehicles and make appropriate recommendations in the light of its findings.”
Meanwhile, the embattled Aviation minister is scheduled to appear before the Senate in plenary session this morning to answer questions on her stewardship of the sector since 2011.
The Senate had on October 8 passed a resolution summoning Oduah over the deadly Associated Airlines plane crash in Lagos the previous week. The plane was conveying the body of the late Ondo State governor Olusegun Agagu from Lagos to his hometown for burial.
Oduah is expected to brief the Senate today on the air crashes under her watch since she became minister two years ago, a senator said yesterday.
The lawmakers had said that Nigeria witnessed seven fatal air mishaps and two near-misses within the last two and a half years.
It is also expected that senators would used the opportunity of her appearance today to ask Ms. Oduah to explain her role in the bullet-proof cars purchase. She had earlier appeared before the House of Representatives Committee on Aviation where she denied any wrongdoing.