#ODUAHGATE - EFCC CLAIMS INVESTIGATION IS ONGOING ON THE SCANDAL THAT CONSUMED FORMER MIN. OF AVIATION STELLA ODUAH

The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission  has said  that all those involved in the controversial purchase of  N255m  bulletproof cars  by the Nigerian Aviation Civil Authority, including the sacked   Minister of Aviation, Ms. Stella Oduah, were still being investigated.

A   source at the EFCC, who made this known,  said  the outcome of the investigation would determine those to be  prosecuted. “We are progressing in the investigation into the scandal and I can assure you that anyone who is found culpable will be prosecuted; just wait and see,” he  stated.

The source spoke just  as  the Trade Union Congress, the   Campaign for Democracy, the   Coalition Against Corrupt Leaders,    the Nigerian Voters’ Assembly, Civil Society Network Against Corruption and human rights lawyer, Bamidele Aturu,insisted that  Oduah  must be made to  face trial for corruption.

The  EFCC had late last year interrogated the Managing Director of the Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria, Mr. George Uriesi;  the Director General of the Nigeria Airspace Management Agency, Mr. Nnamdi Udoh, and the Director General, NCAA, Capt. Fola Akinkuotu, over the scandal.

STELLA ODUAH (THE CAT WITH NINE LIVES) HAS BEEN KICKED OUT OF OFFICE AT LAST

Call her a cat with nine lives and I bet you are not far from the truth. She survived self imposed storms which others could not for several months but today, she has been kicked out of an office she wasn't fit to hold in the first place.

Nigeria’s Corrupt Aviation Minister, Stella Oduah, has been fired by President Goodluck Jonathan. Ms. Oduah has been caught in a web of certificate scandals and a scandalous purchase of two BMW armored cars for $1.6 million. 

Ms. Oduah and three other ministers within the Jonathan govt were relieved of their positions on the orders of Mr. Jonathan. However, their sack was passed off as  voluntary resignation from the cabinet.

 The other ministers sacked includes, the minister of the Niger Delta, Godsday Orubebe, minister of police affairs, Navy Capt. Caleb Olubolade (rtd) and the minister of state for Finance, Yerima  Ngama

Late last year, we reported that Ms. Oduah had compelled the Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA) to pay Coscharis Motors, an auto dealer, approximately $1.6 million for two BMW bullet-proof cars. Investigations by us showed that the highest cost for each such car in both the US and UK was $267,000 per car. NCAA and other sources further disclosed that the two cars were never delivered, compounding a scam by Ms. Oduah who reportedly split the $1.6 million funds with Cosmas Maduka, the chief executive of Coscharis.

She also claimed she earned a Masters degree from a US college.

STELLA ODUAH IS ON MEDICAL LEAVE TO COOL OFF MANY SCANDALS

The Minister of Aviation, Stella Oduah has taken off from Nigeria since her certificate fraud was exposed. She is believed to be in Medical leave in an undisclosed country.

Mrs. Oduah, who was also embroiled in a BMW purchase scandal prior to the certificate mess, reportedly took off from Nigeria after the report of a presidential panel indicting her for a string of corrupt practices was leaked to her. The panel reportedly went beyond its initial brief to unravel a string of corrupt acts of the minister including how she connived with commercial banks to receive kickbacks for renovation projects initiated at airports across the country.

The panel, which was set up by President Jonathan in October to look into how she squeezed the cash-strapped Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority to purchase two armored BMW cars for $1.6million.  The story was also broken by SaharaReporters. 

Rather than face the consequences of her own actions, Mrs. Oduah has been telling anyone willing to listen that she merely “stepped on powerful toes” in the country.

#ODUAHGATE - PRESIDENTIAL COMMITTEE INDICTS EMBATTLED MINISTER OF AVIATION "STELLA ODUAH"

The committee set up by President Goodluck Jonathan to probe the N255m bulletproof car scandal in the aviation ministry has indicted the Minister, Ms. Stella Oduah.

 It was gathered  in Abuja on Sunday  that the report of the presidential committee tallied  with some findings of the House of Representatives  Committee  on Aviation on the scandal. 

In October, there were reports that with the approval of the minister, the Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority purchased two bulletproof  BMW cars at an allegedly inflated rate of N255m.  The development sparked a countrywide controversy with  many Nigerians and groups  calling  for her sacking. The House  subsequently mandated its Committee on  Aviation to probe the allegation against the minister.

STELLA ODUAH ATTEMPTS TO COVER UP CERTIFICATE FORGERY SCANDAL

Embattled Minister of Aviation, Stella Oduah, and her associates have spent the last several hours scrambling to clean up the minister’s biographies on the Internet, following allegations that she lied about her academic qualifications.

SaharaReporters, had Monday quoted authorities at St. Paul’s College, where Mrs. Oduah claimed she studied for Bachelor and Masters degrees, as saying they did not award her an MBA at anytime as the university does not  even have a graduate school or graduate programme.

The minister is yet to respond to the allegations. Efforts to get her to comment for this story were unsuccessful. Joe Obi, her special assistant on media, did not answer or return calls.

SACK STELLA ODUAH NOW!!!!!!!!

HAVING tried all the delay tricks in the book, President Goodluck Jonathan is now confronted with a choice: retain the Aviation Minister, Stella Oduah, or sack her. The President’s body language and vacillation demonstrate unmistakeably that he prefers to keep the controversial minister. This is a tragic error of judgment and confirms to the whole world what many Nigerians already know: that Jonathan’s body language encourages corruption.

Indeed, most Nigerians believe that under the current administration, the war against corruption is virtually lost. Jonathan will only be confirming the view of critics by his continued waffling over Oduahgate. Surely, he does his credibility no good by retaining a minister that has been so tainted in a corruption scandal. Just two weeks ago, in response to an acerbic letter to him from a former President, Olusegun Obasanjo, which was leaked to the press, he pompously declared that he (Jonathan) was fighting corruption. “I have been strengthening the institutions established to fight corruption. I will not shield any government official or private individual involved in corruption…,” he declared.

FIRST LADY "PATIENCE JONATHAN" IN BMW IMPORT WAIVER MESSPATIRNCE

PATIENCE JONATHAN 

The scandal generated by the purchase of 2 armoured vehicles by NCAA under the instructions of Minister of Aviation, Ms Stella Oduah is still raging. This time, our dear first lady is in the middle of the crisis.

Sahara Reporters revealed that Nigeria’s First Lady, Patience Jonathan, sought and received import waivers that she then turned over to Coscharis Motors, a private car dealer, to import 200 BMW cars in 2012.

Figures released by Nigeria’s Ministry of Finance budget office show that Mrs. Jonathan secured the import waivers in the name of her pet project, African First Ladies Peace Mission. The ministry just released a list of beneficiaries of import waivers for 2012.

Other prominent beneficiaries include the Lagos State government which got waivers for the importation of 200 BMWs, Fords, Land Rovers, Range Rovers, Lexus, Mercedes, and Jaguar for the 18th National Sports Festival. Part of the waivers granted to the Lagos State government was fraudulently used by Coscharis Motors to import two BMW armored cars for Minister of Aviation Stella Oduah.

Whereas the Ministry of Finance outlined the reasons for giving out waivers to the Lagos State government, it just stated that the waivers granted to the First Lady’s NGO were for the importation of “units of assorted brands of BMW” cars.

SACK STELLA ODUAH NOW - HOUSE OF REPS RECOMMENDS

The House of Representatives on Thursday agreed that the Minister of Aviation, Ms. Stella Oduah, breached the 2013 Appropriation Act.

It therefore asked Jonathan to review her appointment for approving expenditure of over N643m for the Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority to procure 54 vehicles this year. The spokesman for the House, Mr. Zakari Mohammed, when contacted, explained that the lawmakers wanted the minister sacked. He said, “The review here means a change in status. It is a mild way of saying that Mr. President should sack the minister.”

The House noted that her approval limit as a minister was N100m. It  added that in the process, the agency purchased two bulletproof BMW cars at the cost of N255m without the approval of the National Assembly.

The House  took the decision at Thursday’s plenary after  endorsing  the report of its  Committee on Aviation, which investigated the purchase of the bulletproof cars. A major recommendation of the committee, which was adopted, reads, “The House urges  the President to review the continued engagement of the Minister of Aviation, Stella Oduah, for having contravened the Appropriation Act, 2013 and the approved, revised threseholds by exceeding the Ministry of Aviation’s approval limit of N100m by the purchase of 54 vehicles valued at N643m.”

SENATE DISAPPOINTS NIGERIANS AS IT REFUSED TO QUIZ STELLA ODUAH ABOUT THE N255 ARMOURED CAR SCANDAL

The Senate on Tuesday rejected the explanation of the Minister of Aviation,  Ms. Stella Oduah, on the ill-fated crash involving a 23-year – old Propeller aeroplane belonging to the Associated Airlines on October 3.

The upper legislative house asked the minister to re-submit a detailed presentation on the incident.

Oduah, who appeared before the senate committee on aviation in company with heads of the various agencies under her ministry had limited her presentation to the information retrieved from the black box of the aircraft.

ANYIM SNEAKS EMBATTLED MINISTER STELLA ODUAH OUT OF ASO ROCK

For the second time in two weeks, Secretary to the Government of the Federation, Senator Pius Anyim, had to sneak the embattled Minister of Aviation, Ms Stella Oduah, out of the Presidential Villa, Abuja on Wednesday to avoid a barrage of questions from journalists.

Oduah was in the villa for the Federal Executive Council meeting presided over by Vice-President Namadi Sambo.

The minister is currently in the eye of the storm over the purchase of N255m BMW bulletproof cars by the Nigeria Civil Aviation Authority with many stakeholders calling for her removal.

#ODUAHGATE - COSCHARIS IS HIDING SOMETHING

Five days after a promise to provide information on how Coscharis, which supplied the two armoured cars now at the center of a major scam in the aviation sector, paid BMW for the vehicles, the company’s management has disappeared from the radar of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC).

BULLET PROOF CARS WERE ACTUALLY PURCHASED BUT NOT FOR ME - STELLA ODUAH

Nigeria's Minister of Aviation, Stella Oduah on Thursday told members of the House of Representatives Committee on Aviation that the alleged purchase of N255million BMW armoured cars were not bought for her personal use.

Oduah who astonished stakeholders with this disclosure at the investigative hearing on the issue in her 12 page presentation said:

#ODUAHGATE - MORE REVELATIONS EMERGES

IT was another round of startling revelations Wednesday as the House of Representatives Committee on Aviation continued the suspended investigative hearing into an alleged purchase of two armoured BMW cars at N255million by the Minister of Aviation, Princess  Stella Oduah.

Despite the fact that the minister was visibly missing at the hearing, the Nigeria Customs Service, NSC, FirstBank PLc and Coscharis made presentations on their level of involvement in the purchase of the cars.