The embattled Minister of Aviation, Stella Oduah finally appeared before the House Committee investigating the armoured car scandal. Oduah apologized for her tardiness and assured the lawmakers she did not intend to disrespect them even as she missed previous appearances. The highlight of her testimony was when she said she did not approve the purchase of the cars which was over the approval limit of N100 million. She said although she wrote “Approved” on the memo sent to her by the former acting DG of the agency, she also asked the DG, NCAA to “do the needful.”
She said, “For the past week, I have been bashed in the media, many have also risen to my defence. Allegations made in online reports that I instructed the NCAA to buy the cars for me are false and malicious. False in entirety.”
She added, “It is not true, cannot be true that NCAA bought bullet proof vehicles for honourable minister of aviation. My understanding is that what NCAA has done is to plan for its vehicle needs for the next three years under the Medium Term Expenditure Framework.”
She said the cars were not for her but for foreign dignitaries and she absolved the NCAA of any wrong doing.
Her words: “NCAA acted within the ambit of law”.
“Nothing in the stated documents mentioned my name. I did not request for any vehicles. All I did was to approve the purchase, subject to the agency doing the needful(following the law). NCAA followed due process as required by law.”
“The Federal ministry of aviation under my watch has always ensured we act in a prudent manner and under the ambit of the law.”
During cross examination, a member of the House committee, Jerry Manwe (Taraba state), posed the question of why the NCAA went ahead to buy the cars if the House rejected the armoured cars in the budget. Oduah responded by saying, “NCAA will answer that.”
She further shifted blame to the former DG of the NCAA when she said she did not instruct him to purchase the vehicles in a manner not in unison with the law. She said her comments on the memo were, “Approved. Do the needful.”
The Minister also blamed her aide, Jerry Obi for “erroneous” statements that led the public to believe the cars were for the use of the minister.