Princess Stella Oduah-Ogiemwonyi is set to return to public office with her nomination last weekend as the candidate of the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) for Anambra Senatorial seat, in South East Nigeria. According to media reports, she defeated the incumbent Senator representing the zone- Margery Okadigbo by 259 to 8 votes. Barring any political upset, Stella Oduah is likely to win the eventual general election come 2015, as her party won the senatorial seat in the 2011 elections.
By way of background, Stella Oduah was Nigeria’s Minister of Aviation until July 4, 2011 when she was dropped from President Jonathan’s cabinet. Though no official explanation was given for her ‘sack’, her critics claimed victory, saying it was in a subtle Presidential response to Oduahgate, an acronym that epitomizes and summarizes the national hoopla, odium, and obloquy on the ministerial approval she gave for the purchase of two bullet proof armored BWM cars for scandalous sum of N225m (N255m?). The princely and obviously inflated cars were meant for her official use, as the then Minister of Aviation. Though she later explained that the cars were really purchased for N125m, Nigerians were outraged even by this new figures.
A Presidential panel that inquired into the financial infractions committed by then Minister Stella Oduah in authorizing the purchase, reportedly indicted her, though typical of similar reports, the findings and recommendations were never made public, nor implemented by the Jonathan’s administration. Also, a Committee of the House of Representative that investigated the fleece also indicted the Anambra Princess; and not surprisingly the report has not been officially tabled for discussion in the plenary of the House of Representative, itself mired in public waste and lootocracy.
Stella Oduah educational qualifications and certifications is also mired in several controversies, as the Masters and Doctorate degrees she claims from American university have been questioned.
Against this backdrop, it is therefore highly politically instructive that the disgraced former Federal Minister is staging a comeback to public life, through the ruling party that unceremoniously dropped her from the Federal cabinet and she may soon become one of the ‘Distinguished Senators’ making laws for the Federal Republic of Nigeria. Whether she eventually wins the senatorial election in the 2015 general elections is not relevant for this analysis. The mere fact that a Federal Minister ‘sacked for waste of public funds, could pick a Senatorial ticket less than 12 months afterwards, is poignant for understanding Nigeria’s politics.
First, Princess Stella Oduah’s recent political victory affirms the long held notion that Nigerians are not only corrupt, but corruption is official. On the part of the party that qualified her to contest in the first instance, it shows corruption is the official manifesto of the PDP; while the message from the people that voted for her in the party primaries is that issues, are not relevant in deciding political fortunes or misfortunes. As far as her people are concerned she has done so well in spite of the myriads of allegations against her, and she should go back to go and scoop more of the national cake.
Her victory in her party’s primaries also shows that the future for good governance in Nigeria is bleak, under the present political system. Nigeria’s political system glorifies money over ideas, recycles ineptitude over diligence, and canonizes corruption over integrity.
Her second coming also exposes the ineptitude, indolence, helplessness, and irrelevance of Nigeria’s anti-corruption agencies. Gone are the days, when the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFFCC) would threaten and bark that past public officers being investigated for corrupt practices, would not be allowed to contest for public offices. The EFCC of today has been castrated by the powers that be, and has become an impotent bull dog, that cannot even bark, not to talk of biting. The EFCC is a passive observer of the primitive distribution and allocation of our collective wealth among the governing and ruling class. Like a castrated dog, the EFCC now watches helplessly, when certified corrupt public officers are flaunting their putrid opulence, and pitching the noses of those who had the temerity to accuse them of malfeasance.
Lastly, Stella Oduah’s obscene victory in the recent PDP’s primaries shows that the winners of Nigeria’s bankrupt political system are those who acquire wealth by all foul means, and use it to sustain their power and status, or buy their ways back to power and positions; while the losers are the critics, the whistle blowers, the Mr. Integrity, and of course the people that continue to sell their birthright for a pot of pottage.
Babatope Babalobi is the Coordinator of the Movement for Revolutionary Change babalobi@yahoo.com +2348035897435
Movement for Revolutionary Change (MRC)
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