The
minister of aviation, Stella Oduah, has explained that threats to her life over
reforms in the aviation sector and the general insecurity in the country
prompted the purchase the two armoured BMW cars worth N127. 575 million each.
The
online news portal, saharareporters,
had claimed that it obtained documents which showed the paper trail of the
transaction involving Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA), First Bank and
Coscharis Motors. The cars were purchased by NCAA from Coscharis Motors, paying
through accounts with First Bank.
But
speaking with LEADERSHIP yesterday, the special assistant on media to the
aviation minister, Mr. Joe Obi, said that when the minister came on board with
her reforms, which included reversing some concessions and agreements that were
not in the interest of the people and government of Nigeria, “a lot of
entrenched interests felt that they had been dislocated from the sector. The
minister began to receive series of threats to her life, but because of the
general lack of security in the land, she did not want to raise an alarm but
kept it quiet and then decided to protect herself. So those vehicles were
purchased in response to the general state of security in the land and the
personal threats to her life because of the giant steps she has taken to
reposition the sector.”
He said
that the minister had been trailed several times and that there were clear and
present dangers to her life which were averted or neutralised.
On why
N127.575 million for each of the car, Obi said they were special purpose
vehicles, even as he explained that the utility vehicles were bought in the
name of the Minister of Aviation and not in the name of Stella Oduah.
“Normally,
you don’t buy one utility vehicle but you buy two at a time because you must
have a back-up for public officials. The level of exposure which came with her
job warranted the purchase of the vehicles. As a private citizen, she never had
these vehicles,” he added.
However,
the general manager, Public Affairs of NCAA, Mr Fan Ndubuoke, said he was unaware
that such vehicles were purchased for the minister.
“I
cannot comment on something I know nothing about,” he insisted.
When
contacted, the coordinating general manager, Aviation Agencies, Mr. Yakubu
Dati, corroborated Obi’s response - that threats to the minister safety
prompted the purchases- and said that he had nothing more to add.
Efforts
to contact Coscharis Motors were unsuccessful as its officials failed to pick
their calls and refused to answer a text message sent over the issue.
The
aviation minister, Stella Oduah, has come under fire for a number of air
crashes and near misses in the last one year that have cost about 200 lives.
Many aviation analysts have accused her of high-handedness in managing the
ministry because of her closeness to the Presidency.
According
to the documents obtained by saharareporters, the transaction for the purchase
of the two BMW vehicles began in June 2013 but the request for their delivery
and payment were hurriedly done between August 13 and 15, 2013.
The two
black BMW Li HSS vehicles had chassis numbers WBAHP41050DW68032 and
WBAHP41010DW68044 respectively and were delivered to NCAA on August 13, 2013.
Leadership
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