The swirling scandal over the purchase of over N225m bullet-proof cars by the Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA), a pararstatal of the Ministry of Aviation, has been described as an acid test in his fight against corruption by the Anti-Corruption Network.

In a press statement issued yesterday in Abuja, the group’s Executive Secretary, Otunba Dino Melaye, challenged President Goodluck Jonathan to take disciplanary action against Aviation Minister, Princess Stella Oduah, for “this fiscal extravagance.” He disclosed that his group has directed its legal team to study the case with a view to filling a court action against the minister.

According to him, “If it were to be during Obasanjo or Yar’Adua, the Minister would have been fired.

“We are waiting to see what the President will do as well as the National Assembly.

“We are waiting to see what the President will do as well as the National Assembly.

“We are giving the Minister 72 hours to resign and refund the money spent to the government coffers, failure to do so, we will mobilize Nigerians to protest this abuse of office.

“If by Thursday, they don’t comply to our demands, we will file suit in court against them and against the ministry as well as the parastal that bought the cars in question.

“Our lawyers are looking at our books to ensure that we file this suit by Thursday next week. We must take our destiny in our hands. No one will stop us, enough is enough and we wll use the case of Oduah as acid test against all corrupt practices in the country.”

Melaye, a former member of the House of Representatives, further stressed that the purchase of the two bullet proof cars under any disguise was an affront on the miiliions of undergraduate students who had been shut out of schOools for close to four months due to infrastructure decay in the country’s public institutions.

He said that the action was not only callous, inhuman and reprehensible, but it was the one that flew from the pit of hell.

Highlighting the possible ways by which the cars could have been bought, he pointed out that it is either the agency which allegedly bought the car got it under the guise of internally generated Revenue or she, Stella Oduah got it through the kick back from the on-going renovation of the nation’s airports.

His words: “No Ministry or agency is allowed to spend money not appropriated. The posers we have for the Minister is; Was the money for the purchase of the cars budgeted for by the National Assemble? Did the Bureau of Public Enterprise clear the purchase? Or did Stella Oduah obtain certificate of no objection? These are many posers the Honourable Minister should provide answers to.

“However, in the absence of satisfactory answers what can be deduced is that it is either the Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA) alleged to have procured the cars hoodwinked the public by under declaring its IGR to raise the money or the Minister Purchased it from proceeds of the country’s airports.”

•Photo shows Aviation Minister Stella Oduah.

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