Oduah’s sack: Reps back Jonathan

THE sack of the Minister of Aviation, Princess Stella Oduah, by President Goodluck Jonathan, Wednesday, got the support of the  House of Representatives yesterday.

The former  minister, who was accused of purchasing two bullet-proof cars at an inflated rate of N255million last year, was recommended for sack by the House Committee on Aviation after a week- long public hearing.

Briefing journalists, yesterday, spokesman of the House, Zakari Mohammed, APC, Kwara, said the House proved detractors wrong as Oduah’s removal and ouster from office showed the President had taken sides with the House’ resolution.

Mohammed said, “We have kept faith with exposing corruption and for us, we have done our job. And if the President has finally decided to do his now, then we are on the same page.”

On the allocation of N7billion by the Presidency for the national conference, Mohammed said the House would look into the proposal and do justice to it when it came to the National Assembly.

He said,“As an institution, it is too early for us to talk about the desirability of the conference and the budget for it. But when they bring it to us, we would look at it critically.”

Also yesterday, the Nigeria Unity Group in the House of Representatives condemned the wild and spurious allegations by members of the All Progressives Congress, APC, that the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, dished out millions of US dollars to senators and House members to defect to the PDP.

Unity group flays APC

The group said it would do everything within the law to ensure the 2014 Appropriation Bill was passed within limited time, and that the group would not allow  anything to truncate the Transformation Agenda of President Goodluck Jonathan

A statement signed by Bitrus Kaze for the group, after the delivery of the budget to various committees of the House said, “we are not surprised at their desperation but we are determined not to allow these weighty allegations to be swept under the carpet. We have since raised a breach of privilege on the floor of the House and the matter has been referred to the House Committee on Ethics and Privileges, report of which is expected in two weeks.”

Kaze, however, stated that the group would follow the matter to its logical conclusion, adding that while Nigerians had become used to the regular doses of lies by the APC spokesman, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, they were shocked that the incumbent governor of Nassarawa State, Alhaji Tanko Almakura, would condescend to such a despicable level to lie on a national television that the members from Nassarawa State were financially induced to defect to PDP.

He noted,“Unfortunately, this pattern of behaviour has become consistent with the APC, even at their highest level. Luckily, discerning Nigerians know that the APC remains a patch-patch contraption of desperate and power hungry politicians, most of whom believe in blackmail and false propaganda as tools for achieving political relevance”.

Kaze advised the APC to learn to place national interest over and above parochial political gains, and salute the courage of members of the multi-party platform, under the Nigeria Unity Group, for their resilience and commitment to the Nigeria project, despite all efforts to distract them.