Even as Sali begins probe:Oduah to sign BASA in Israel

The agreement is expected to be signed in Tel Aviv this week with President Goodluck Jonathan personally in attendance. He left the country for Israel yesterday to perform the Christian pilgrimage and also pay a state visit to Israel.Hours before he left for Israel yesterday, President Jonathan appointed a three-man administrative panel of inquiry to […]

The agreement is expected to be signed in Tel Aviv this week with President Goodluck Jonathan personally in attendance. He left the country for Israel yesterday to perform the Christian pilgrimage and also pay a state visit to Israel.
Hours before he left for Israel yesterday, President Jonathan appointed a three-man administrative panel of inquiry to investigate the purchase of the two armoured BMW vehicles for Aviation Minister Stella Oduah by the Nigeria Civil Aviation Authority.
Presidential spokesman Reuben Abati who disclosed this in Abuja yesterday said the panel will be headed by former Head of the Civil Service of the Federation Alhaji Isa Bello Sali Bello. The two other members are National Security Adviser Col. Sambo Dasuki (rtd) and Air Vice Marshal Dick Iruenebere (rtd).
Abati said the panel’s mandate is to investigate whether the procurement process of the vehicles followed due process, find out the purpose for which the vehicles were procured and inquire into any other incidental matter. The spokesman also said the president had taken the initial step of querying the minister even before he constituted the probe panel. The panel is expected to submit its report within two weeks, he said.
He said the president would like to assure Nigerians that nobody involved in the scandal, no matter how highly placed, would be shielded or exempted from the inquiry while appropriate action would be taken against any person or persons found guilty of misconduct or misappropriation of public funds “either in this respect or in any other respect.” Abati however refused to say whether Oduah will step aside from her duties as aviation minister in order to allow for an unfettered investigation.
He said: “Well, I’ve just announced to you what I was asked to announce, that a panel of inquiry has been set up. This panel will address all the relevant questions and advise Mr. President accordingly within two weeks.”
Abati also said, “President Goodluck Jonathan has taken the initial step of asking the Minister of Aviation, Stella Oduah, for explanations and that is in the public domain…But also, President Jonathan has also today taken a step further, and you’ll probably be the first set of Nigerians to hear this, by setting up a three-man administrative panel of inquiry.
“This panel has the assignment to investigate whether the procurement process with regards to these armoured vehicles followed due process. This three-man panel is also to find out the purpose to which the vehicles were procured and then to inquire into any other instrumental matter.” He said the NSA’s office will provide a secretariat for the panel.
Since last week when the scandal broke, civil society groups from all over the country have called for the Aviation Minister’s sacking. The House of Representatives has already launched an investigation through its Committee on Aviation, but the Senate dragged its feet on a similar probe.
Managing Director of the Nigeria Civil Aviation Authority Dr. Fola Akinkuotu has already confirmed that NCAA indeed procured the two vehicles. Although he said they are pool vehicles for ferrying visitors to Nigeria, while the minister’s spokesman Joe Obi said the two vehicles are for Oduah’s use. He defended the purchase on the grounds that the minister received death threats from some quarters. He also attributed the death threats to the “reforms” that she undertook in the aviation sector, which he said included cancelling some agreements that were unfavourable to Nigeria.
Oduah is one of the most powerful members of President Jonathan’s kitchen cabinet. During the 2011 election campaign, she founded and headed Neighbour to Neighbour, a kind of door to door campaign for Jonathan. The lavishly funded group organized many high profile campaign events and erected huge billboards to support Jonathan’s election. Since her appointment as Aviation Minister, she has stumbled from one scandal to another.