The All Progressive Congress have asked President Jonathan to prove he does not embrace corruption in the country by sacking his embattled Minister of Aviation, Princess Stella Oduah who was named and shamed in a N255 million car contract scandal in October.
The spokesman of the APC, Alhaji Lai Mohammed made the call during a political rally in Port Harcourt, Rivers State yesterday.
He said in a statement, ‘’There is no doubt that the House of Representatives took its stand, which included asking the EFCC to investigate and prosecute all those involved in the scandal, after a painstaking work by its Committee on Aviation.
“This action is commendable and reflects the general opinion of Nigerians on the shameful scandal.
‘’Therefore, Ms. Oduah has no basis for continued occupation of her post as Minister of Aviation and should step down immediately. If she fails to do so, she should be fired by the President,’’ the statement added.
The APC said failure of the President to sack Oduah will mean he lacks the political will to do anything about the gargantuan corruption cases that have plagued his administration including the N1 trillion oil subsidy fraud.
“The list is long, and includes the pension scam, the Malabu scandal, the massive corruption in SEC, the Halliburton scandal, the unprecedented crude oil theft and the extensive corruption in the oil sector.
‘’The President’s decision to hug corruption rather than to fight it has also been reflected in his comments, saying for example that the perception people have about corruption in Nigeria is exaggerated; and that his administration is ‘winning’ the war against corruption.
‘’But this overly simplistic take on corruption in Nigeria flies in the face of the available evidence that Nigeria has sunk deeper into the mud of corruption under President Jonathan, especially the latest ranking by Transparency International, which lists Nigeria as one of the most corrupt nations in the world, and the report of the US Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights and Labor Country Reports on Human Rights Practices for 2012, which shows Nigerian government officials and agencies frequently engaged in corrupt practices with impunity.
“It is now up to President Jonathan to take the fight against corruption seriously and work with other arms of government in combating the canker worm, or go down in the history of the country as the most corrupt administration ever.
“He can start by acting decisively on the Aviation scandal, and stop using ad-hoc panels to bury corruption cases,’’ APC said.