APC Tells Jonathan To Stop Protecting Oduah

The All Progressives Congress (APC) has accused President Jonathan of shielding the Aviation Minister, Mrs Stella Oduah and whisking her to Israel, in an attempt to prepare a soft landing for her in the face of public outrage concerning the BMW car scandal.

While stating that the scandal and how it was handled was a test case for the Jonathan Presidency, the APC said it was appalled by the manner the President has handled the matter thus far.


"It has now emerged that the money spent on the cars was not appropriated, which is a violation of the Nigerian constitution; that due process was not followed in buying the cars, as the Bureau of Public Procurement has testified, and that the minister, who was said to have approved the purchase , violated the law by approving an expenditure over the N100m limit", the APC statement signed by interim National Publicity Secretary, Lai Mohammed, read.

"These revelations make the Oduahgate a straightforward case that should have been summarily dealt with by the President. Instead, he has engaged himself in rigmarole by setting up a diversionary administrative panel in what is now looking like an orchestrated ploy to buy time, hoping this issue will die down and the minister will escape being sanctioned.

"Unfortunately for Mr. President, Oduahgate is not just another scandal, but a referendum on his administration's fight against corruption, and on the legacy he intends to leave in this critical area."

The APC said the President showed disdain to the Nigerian people by flying to Israel with the Minister in the first place.

"The egregious act of putting the minister on his(Jonathan) entourage, at a time she is at the centre of a terrible scandal, calls to question the President's sense of propriety and his commitment to the war against corruption."

"We now understand why corruption has grown wings under the Jonathan Presidency, and why the administration may well go down as the most corrupt in the country's history," the APC said.