For the embattled aviation minister, Israel trip may turn the tide
Of all the government officials that have commented on what some people are beginning to call Oduahgate, even when no court of competent authority has pronounced that there is any such gate properly so called, it is Captain Fola Akinkuotu, the director-general of the Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA) that seems to me to be addressing the real issue; that is why government is shaking on the matter. Whilst many of us are upset about the fact that N255million of our money was spent to buy two bullet-proof BMW cars for the powerful Minister of Aviation, Ms Stella Oduah, Capt Akinkuotu is worried about how the information got to the press. Not even the alleged inflation of the cost of the cars, the true market value of which was put at about N72million, is of any significance to him.
Indeed, he is not alone in this concern about leakage of what seems to him an official secret. If his press conference at the Ministry of Aviation headquarters in Abuja on October 18 was anything to go by, even the Federal Government is worried about it. Hear him: “So we are in the process of trying to find the source of this leakage and I am very concerned about it. Because this information may look trivial but there are other information that we have that are confidential and it is only fair for us to respect the confidentiality of information. I am not saying that they broke into our office, but they obtained the information illegally.”
It is difficult to fault Capt Akinkuotu’s claim. When, the other time Channels Television broke the story of how about 50 police trainees share one fish head, President Goodluck Jonathan’s initial shock was not about the scandalous happenings in the Police College; he was more particular about how the information got to the media. Talk of different folks, different strokes.
I can only imagine the stress Capt Akinkuotu has been going through since this jealously guarded secret leaked. His confusion is palpable. This was a man who said he was ‘not saying that this particular information should not be put in the public domain’. For sure, those we refer to as ‘too knows’ in the country would want to ask why Capt Akinkuotu never made the matter public in the first place if he and his agency or boss had nothing to hide about the transaction. That is a major disadvantage of being a public official in Nigeria.
You can imagine a big man like Akinkuotu having to take his time to explain to ordinary Nigerians the A-Z of the transaction. I can imagine how the (poor?) man would have felt speaking to common newshounds just because his agency splashed N255m on bullet-proof cars to protect the honourable minister overseeing his agency. And people who know next-to-nothing about how government works here and how hardworking government functionaries like Ms Oduah have become an endangered species have been running their mouth. Now, what do they expect the man to do in the face of imminent danger to the honourable minister? Fold his arms and pretend not to know such threats exist? Haba! Even the scriptures tell us to be our brother’s keeper.
Honestly, I feel pained about the issue because I have observed a pattern with some Nigerians who seem to have sworn never to want to see beautiful women making waves in government. But thank God, President Jonathan is not disturbed by such beer parlour condemnations. He has blessed his government with quite a few amazons, and has at least three of them with whom he is well pleased. I won’t name them in any particular order, first because I am not competent to do that; but more importantly because they are all powerful in their own rights. We have the finance minister, Prof Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala who doubles as coordinating minister of the economy. She was ‘donated’ to us by the World Bank. We also have the Minister of Petroleum, Mrs. Diezani Alison-Madueke; and of course, Ms Oduah. Of the ‘triumvirate’, Okonjo-Iweala appears the least blemished.
Mrs Alison-Madueke, is the most talked-about; she seems to have more than nine lives as she has survived criticisms that would have sent less influential ministers packing long ago. Talk about the fuel subsidy scandal. Or, the report that she spent N2billion travelling in private jets in two years? No minister with one life can get away with any of these. Then, Ms Oduah that many Nigerians have been calling for her sack over the parlous state of our aviation sector. None of such criticisms moved President Jonathan to get them the boot.
Isn’t it a rare privilege, therefore, for the NCAA boss to have such a woman as his boss? Now, if you are in Capt Akinkuotu’s shoes, won’t you feel highly honoured appending your signature to documents requesting for bullet-proof cars for such an influential woman in the land?
And, to leave no one in doubt about the bile in the Oduahgate, some people are already helping Ms Oduah to calculate how many years she may have to spend in prison alongside those involved in the purchase of the cars, for allegedly violating the federal budget and procurement laws. They say she is entitled to between three to 10 years in prison! Haba! Why not wait until she is adjudged guilty of a crime? Now, it is these same people who want the honourable minister jailed that are accusing the government of not appreciating the value of human resource. Those who designed our prisons couldn’t have made them for such a paragon of beauty. There cannot be a worse way to waste ‘woman’ resource.
But, when did we become such sadists in the country? Are those calling for the minister’s crucifixion saying because the bullet-proof cars were not included in the budget, they should not have been bought, even when there are threats to the minister’s life as a result of the good works she is doing? Should they wait for the minister’s enemies to kill her and the government will then be compelled to issue the usual obituary, ‘the enemies have done their worst’, or ‘gone too soon’? And the Police the usual threat: ‘we’ll fish out the killers’? When did we become such sadists as to want people who had already smiled to the bank to go back there weeping and wailing?
This may not be the best of times for Ms Oduah. But, in spite of what seems an encircling gloom, I still see hope for the minister; it is Capt Akinkuotu I fear for. There are many good things working for Ms Oduah. The one I have not mentioned was her role in the Neighbour-to-Neighbour campaign for the president when he was seeking our votes in 2011. Since a neighbour in need is a neighbour indeed, she can as well invoke this, too.
When all else fails, and it seems President Jonathan wants to play to the gallery, the minister should play the joker: she should seek audience with her boss, kneel down before him and ensure that there is eye contact between them. That is the only ‘incantation’ needed. Her eyes should carry both the remorsefulness of a penitent sinner as well as the awe of all that she is carrying. Such eye contact works wonders. It is thicker than blood. It is only the ordinary folks that would not understand. And that is why they remain what they are: ordinary folks. Since both the minister and the President and others are still in Israel praying for Nigeria, the President is still fresh with anointing that may go bad if he does not learn to forgive and forget.
