With measured steps the Chairman of the House of Representatives Committee on Aviation, Honourable Mrs. Nkiruka Onyejeocha, solemnly made her way to the front of the hallowed chambers of the Lower House. She bowed her head before the Hon. Speaker and then presented a copy of what should have represented the authentic report of her panel into the purchase of two armoured BMW cars by the Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA) as part of its fleet of operational vehicles.
Shortly after performing this solemn task, elegant Hon. Onyejeocha was confronted by a reporter who asked to know what her committee had recommended in the report. But the Legislator answered that the report she had just present to the House was a collective endeavor of her committee panel which, alone, had the power to tell the House, and indeed all Nigerians, through the Leadership of the House, what its recommendations were.
But unknown to the vibrant female legislator, some Opposition elements embedded within her probe panel had leaked to some selected members of the press a version of what they thought the Report should say: “Sack Stella Oduah and crucify some high ranking officials of the NCAA allegedly adjudged involved in the purchase of the cars.” That was all they wanted to see happen, with such indecent haste.
As if, one would observe, the Minister, Princess Stella Oduah, was the first ever Minister or high public office holder to be subjected to a House Committee panel probe. As I write this, the House Report on the massive Fuel Subsidy scam of 2012, the allied Report of a probe into the $620,000 (six hundred and twenty thousand dollars) bribery scandal involving the courts and EFCC against a standing high ranking member of the House of representatives, the great Police Pension Fund fraud Report and several other pending corruption cases against ex-governors and other public and private sector officials, are all still left in the books gathering dust. They have apparently been of no interest to all the present latter-day witch-hunters now masquerading as anti-corruption crusaders in this case involving the Aviation Minister. There is, of course, a clear evidence of an ethnic card being played subterraneously in all this “ Kill Oduah, sack Oduah” hullabaloo, but it is a story to be told another day. For now let us not get carried away and stray from the issue at hand.
Who are those with grudges big and venomous enough to decide to spew corrosive bile on Stella Oduah and her office?; masked persons feeling so deeply wounded by the woman and are now determined to use sections of the media to mount a relentless campaign of persecution against her?. Why are they so afraid of her? In fact, who are they? Who are members of this evil group of grudge-bearers demanding the sack of one of the hardest working and most prudent ministers ever to serve Nigeria? I have no reservations in using superlatives here; I am a convert of the woman who has distinguished herself in office, leaving me, a caustic critic, with little to criticize about her in the last two years. Why must I be afraid of speaking the truth? So, who are the masked sponsors of the professional media assassins unleashed after her?
To start with, our search must focus solely on the rich and powerful of our society. Because the enemies of Oduah, by the nature and extent of their robust and sustained campaign so far, cannot necessarily be the poor and un-connected!
The fundamental questions that discerning Nigerians must further ask are, indeed, many. For example, what prompted the leakers to rush to the press and not wait for the report to be formally presented to the House? Could it be that the Opposition elements within the panel had been compromised by the masked men who are after Oduah for getting in the way of their corrupt practices?
The pattern, nature and frequency of the leaks, and always to certain members of the press, should tell us it is all an orchestrated war against an innocent woman who brought a new dimension to ministerial service. Why, otherwise, would they rush to leak aspects of the “report” pre-emptorily to their colluding newspaper partners, a full twenty-four hours ahead of the official presentation date?
Could it be that the agitated and vengeful anti-Oduah masked men were fearful that the actual content of the real report might exonerate the Minister? So they rushed to first put falsehood in the domain of public discourse, as a strategy to hang a smear tag on the woman, irrespective of what the actual report would come up with. In this manner they betrayed their prejudice by hastily advertising their ill-wish against the Minister; they thereby also compromised the integrity of the report received by the House later.
Now, since this organized, well-funded and sustained campaign against Oduah started over two months ago, those of us who have ardently monitored the aviation sector have been loud in raising the alarm that the media-based mass hysteria whipped up against Oduah was a witch-hunt. And it has two clear purposes.
First, is to have Oduah removed as Minister of Aviation so that they would continue to loot the sector, un-inhibited and unrestrained, as they had freely done before her arrival at the ministry to end it. Second, is to deprive President Goodluck Ebele Jonathan (GEJ) of the sterling services of this articulate, meticulous and energetic achiever. To the first group belong the several entrenched corrupt business interests who were shaken and uprooted by the positive aviation sector reforms introduced by the Minister. And in the second group are to be found the political enemies of President GEJ. This particular group is afraid Oduah will again be at the commanding position in the President’s re-election bid, should he decide to contest in 2015. So they desperately want her out of the cabinet, and away from the President, ahead of 2015.
The two groups are therefore clearly united behind a common fear and hate of Stella Oduah. They are both well connected and powerful, economically and politically; and have invested heavily in this sinister enterprise of “get Oduah by all means”! Yet we are left with unmasking the faces behind the unwarranted onslaught against this woman. The Opposition All Progressives Congress (APC), the G7 Governors of the People’s Democratic Party (PDP), rivalry-inspired powerful internal enemies of Oduah within the Presidency, are all known. We have names to their faces. It is only left to unmask the private individuals in both the private and public sector waging a war of vendetta against Oduah.
It is tragic! What is going on with this so-called Oduahgate is indeed tragic! In Nigeria, the good is said to be bad while the bad is held up as good. National progress has come to mean growth in impunity and illegal wealth and ego among a tiny group of privileged and “powerful” individuals in both the public and private sector of the economy. They think they own Nigeria and must decide how it should be run and its resources redistributed.
Though insignificant in number they, nonetheless, have acquired enormous leverage as PHD degree (Pull Her Down) holders. They wield this weapon against anyone who dared to stand in the way to their personal progress which is often equated to national progress; as when they put on the mask of anti-corruption crusaders.
The message here to the people of Nigeria is simple enough: as we would say in the local jargon, Shine Your Eyes! in this BMW cars issue! Judge for yourself who really is the bad guy here! Is it Stella Oduah who has been battling powerful forces in order to bring about the desired changes in the aviation sector that will benefit all Nigerians, or is it the few rich and powerful individuals who want to continue to loot Nigeria through the Ministry of Aviation? That is the issue! Forget about all the cooked up lies written and leaked or pushed out daily by paid media jobbers working for the iniquitous coalition of grudge-bearers against Stella Oduah.
As for the highly esteemed members of the Leadership of the House of Representatives who are honourable and patriotic legislators committed to the genuine progress of our dear country, Nigeria, and to the happiness of the greater number of the mass of its people, I urge you to boldly, courageously and in good conscience reject the House Committee probe panel’s report before you. Reject it! Reject it again! And trash it! For it belongs to the trash can.
The report has intrigue, dishonesty and fraud written all over it. Before it got to you it has been stripped of all vestiges of integrity by the disingenuous act of those elements in the panel who were betrayed by their desire to hastily pass judgment on Stella Oduah; long before you, the honourable Leadership of the House, even had a chance to receive the report.
Finally I respectfully suggest that, first, you constitute a panel of inquiry to unravel how and why the report of the House Committee panel was published by the Opposition and Oduah’s enemy newspapers, 24 hours before its presentation date. To say the least, it was an embarrassment to you. Then second, institute a new House Committee panel to conduct a fresh probe into the issue of the two BMW cars. For, as things stand now, the singular leakage to favoured media houses as pursued by some members of the panel, irredeemably damaged the integrity of the report now before you and it must, accordingly, be rejected.
Chike B. Emenike is a Lagos-based engineer and writer on public affairs, based. For feedback: chikemen@yahoo.com. 0805550s5454 (sms only).
