Nigeria: Oduah - Bulletproof Cars Were Not for Me

 
Investigations into the controversial purchase of two BMW bulletproof cars by the Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA) witnessed a dramatic twist yesterday as the Minister of Aviation, Ms. Stella Oduah, finally appeared before the House of Representatives Committee on Aviation, where she denied her alleged complicity in the transaction.
Oduah whose inability to appear before now had generated tension, told the investigating panel that she
neither requested the NCAA to purchase the controversial cars nor were they registered in her name.
She acknowledged that the media has been awash with the purported spending of $1.6 million (N255m) by the NCAA for the purchase of the vehicles but said such reports were untrue and were designed to smear her reputation and scuttle ongoing reforms in the aviation sector.
She spoke just as the Federal Ministry of Finance and the Nigerian Customs Service (NCS) clarified the alleged waivers issued for the importation of the bulletproof cars.
As Oduah was striving to clear her name in the car purchase scandal, an online medium, Sahara Reporters, yesterday reported that the minister pressurised the Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria (FAAN) to borrow a huge amount from a commercial bank to buy her two bulletproof cars.
The Senate Committee on Aviation had on Wednesday vowed to get to the root of the purchase of two bulletproof Lexus car, at a cost of N60 million each, while the cost of the remaining two Toyota Prado armoured sport utility vehicles was yet to be disclosed.
However, giving her side of the story yesterday while appearing before the House committee, the minister denied culpability in the car purchase transaction by NCAA. She said: "Let me state emphatically from the outset that the allegation concerning the purchase of two bulletproof cars for me by the Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA) is false in its entirety. "It is not true that the NCAA has spent such amounts of money on the purchase of vehicles. It is also not true that the NCAA has purchased two bulletproof BMW vehicles for the Honourable Minister of Aviation.
"My understanding is that what the NCAA has done, is to plan for the acquisition of vehicles for the next three years within the Medium Term Expenditure Framework (MTEF) through a lease financing arrangement with First Bank Nigeria Limited (FBN).