Stella Oduah has sensationally
alleged that she was removed as minister of aviation in 2014 at the prompting
of Diezani Alison-Madueke, then-minister of petroleum resources.
Oduah, now a senator, made the
allegation in an upcoming book, ‘On a Platter of Gold: How Jonathan Won and
Lost Nigeria’, written by Bolaji Abdullahi, who himself served as a minister
under Jonathan from 2011-2014.
The book will go on sale
nationwide from November 30, 2017 after the launch.
In a copy obtained by us, Oduah
said when the scandal broke over the $1.6 million BMW armoured cars bought for
her by the Nigeria Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA) in 2013, Jonathan invited
her to explain herself.
According to Abdullahi, at the
meeting were Alison-Madueke, who was perceived to be extremely influential on
President Goodluck Jonathan, and Anyim Pius Anyim, who was the secretary to the
government of the federation.
The president seemed satisfied
with her explanation that there was nothing untoward in the deal.
Alison-Madueke also appeared
sympathetic and even promised to speak to her friends in the national assembly
and the media “to back down” on the issue.
“I thought she had my back. I did
not know at the time that she was actually fuelling it and orchestrating all
the media attacks,” she told Abdullahi.
“I knew all along that Diezani
could not deal with having another female around who had the kind of access I
had to the president. But she went too far. She thought I was the one who
leaked the issue of private jet that put
her into trouble with the House of Representatives (Diezani was accused of
spending N10 billion on chartered jets). For her it was payback time.”
Twice, she had offered to resign
before her sack but Jonathan asked her not to, according to her, yet the issue
did not go away.
“Diezani was paying people to
keep the story alive. At the same time, she was whispering in [the president’s]
ears that he had to take action,” Oduah alleged.
Abdullahi wrote that
Alison-Madueke asked the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) to
arrest Oduah, but the plan was countered by other members of the cabinet.
A presidential committee headed
by Sambo Dasuki, then national security adviser, eventually indicted Oduah.
When the president told her that
she had to go, Oduah asked: “Did Diezani ask you to sack me?”
Jonathan answered no, but there
and then it was agreed that she should be eased out of government.
On January 12, 2014, she was
removed as minister.
Abdullahi, the author, was fired
as minister of sport in March 2014 by Jonathan allegedly on account of his
“godfather”, Bukola Saraki, who had joined other PDP rebels to defect to the
APC.
Nigerians are not interested in this your old story of attack & counter attack. You people have done your worst to Nigeria. So pls let's take on something new, something of the moment that can make Nigeria great and can bring food to the common man in Nigeria.
ReplyDeleteYou was involved in the Bullet proof car scam.
ReplyDeleteYou then went on to build a 200 room Hotel on a small salary like what you was getting.