Oduah is seeking protection of the court from possible probe over the purchase of two armoured BMW cars at a cost of N160 million in 2013 by the Nigeria Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA) under her watch.
She had on August 26, 2015, obtained an interim injunction barring the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) from taking any action against her pending the determination of the suit.
Though after granting the interim injunction on August 26, Justice Mohammed Yunusa adjourned hearing of the main case till October 2, 2015, the matter was however listed for hearing yesterday.
It was learnt that questions had trailed the granting of the interim order, neccessitating the hearing of the case before the original adjourned date.
But when the case was called, Oduah, EFCC and the Inspector General of Police (IG) were not represented in court.
Only the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission (ICPC)was represented by its counsel, Funmilola Oluborode.
The ICPC counsel said hearing notice was not issued on the commission, adding that she only came to court on the instruction of one of her superiors, who had on Tuesday sighted the case on the cause list for yesterday.
In view of the absence of the other parties, Oluborode sought an adjournment till November 16.
The counsel, who said the ICPC was yet to file any response to Oduah’s suit, begged the court to adjourn the case to enable the commission file its defence.
Though the court pointed out that the suit was a fundamental rights enforcement suit which deserves urgent hearing, the ICPC counsel begged the court to adjourn till November to enable her superior appear in court in person to defend the case.
JusticeYunusa consequently adjourned hearing of the suit till November 16, 2015.
Oduah, who is currently in the Senate representing Anambra North senatorial district, had approached the court claiming that the current government, under the guise of anti-graft war, was making moves to persecute and humiliate her.
She claimed that the All Progressives Congress (APC)-led federal government had perfected plans to try prominent members of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), including herself, on trumped-up charges in a Lagos State government-controlled court.
According to her, this ploy was to depopulate the PDP so that Nigeria could become a one-party country.
She said unless the EFCC, ICPC and the AIG are barred, they would be used by the APC government to unleash a repression against her and other prominent PDP members, a situation that could “cause the country to recede to a one-party state, with gross adverse effects and irreparable damage to our nascent democracy.”
She said her persecution, which began in the build-up to the 2015 general election, was spearheaded by the Governor of Sokoto State, Aminu Tambuwal, who was then Speaker of the House of Representatives and the Chairman House’s Aviation Committee.
According to Oduah, the APC, in a desperate bid to capture power, began a campaign of calumny by “demonising the most visible leaders of the Peoples Democratic Party, including myself and others who were seen as pivotal to the re-election bid of the then incumbent President Goodluck Jonathan.”
She said as part of the APC’s campaign of calumny, the party’s leadership commissioned some faceless organisations to write letters to the House of Representatives Committee on Aviation, accusing her of “all manners of corrupt practices and offences in respect of my stewardship as Minister of Aviation.”
Oduah said despite her selfless service and the immense progress made under her watch, including the revamping of the country’s air transportation, Tambuwal still ordered her investigation based on the petitions containing “spurious and wild allegations.”
She said because of her electoral value and strategic politicking, she had been a target of the ploy by the APC to depopulate the PDP and distract its leaders with trumped up charges.
According to her, part of the APC plan was to charge PDP leaders “in a criminal trial in a Lagos State Government-controlled court.”
She, however, explained that the two armoured BMW purchased for N160 million, was for the purpose of conveying officials of the International Civil Aviation Organisation, (ICAO) who were in the country at the time for the routine inspection and certification of the 22 airports in the country, which were being rehabilitated under her watch.
She said the purchase of the armoured vehicles was necessitated to safeguard the lives of the foreign officials, since the inspection and certification of the airports coincided with “the peak of Boko Haram terrorists’ menace in the country, when the United Nations building and the headquarters of the Nigeria Police Force were bombed in Abuja.
“It was thus imperative that the NCAA, which is an apex regulatory authority in the Nigerian aviation industry, operating under the SARPs of the ICAO and subject to assessment by ICAO, acquire its own armoured vehicles for the use of the ICAO officials coming for inspection and certification at the time,” Oduah explained.
She added that the bulletproof vehicles were budgeted for in the 2013 budget, adding that they were duly procured in line with the Bureau of Public Procurement regulations.
The ex-minister said upon her assumption of office in 2011, she “quickly realised that the quest for direct foreign investment in Nigeria could not be optimally successful without world standard airports for international and domestic air travels.”
Because of this, she said, she therefore directed that the proposal of N9 billion made for the rehabilitation of four airports be made to cover all the 22 airports in the country.
No comments:
Post a Comment