Stella Oduah has sensationally alleged that she was removed as
minister of aviation in 2014 at the prompting of Diezani Alison-Madueke,
then-minister of petroleum resources.
Oduah, now a senator, made the allegation in an upcoming
book, ‘On a Platter of Gold: How Jonathan Won and Lost Nigeria’, written by
Bolaji Abdullahi, who himself served as a minister under Jonathan from
2011-2014.
The book will go on sale nationwide from November 30, 2017
after the launch.
In a copy seen by TheCable, Oduah said when the scandal broke
over the $1.6 million BMW armoured cars bought for her by the Nigeria Civil
Aviation Authority (NCAA) in 2013, Jonathan invited her to explain herself.
According to Abdullahi, at the meeting were Alison-Madueke,
who was perceived to be extremely influential on President Goodluck
Jonathan, and Anyim Pius Anyim, who was the secretary to the government of
the federation.
The president seemed satisfied with her explanation that
there was nothing untoward in the deal.
Alison-Madueke also appeared sympathetic and even promised to
speak to her friends in the national assembly and the media “to back down” on
the issue.
“I thought she had my back. I did not know at the time that
she was actually fuelling it and orchestrating all the media attacks,” she told
Abdullahi.
“I knew all along that Diezani could not deal with having
another female around who had the kind of access I had to the president. But
she went too far. She thought I was the one who leaked the issue of private
jet that put her into trouble with the House of Representatives (Diezani
was accused of spending N10 billion on chartered jets). For her it was payback
time.”
Twice, she had offered to resign before her sack but Jonathan
asked her not to, according to her, yet the issue did not go away.
“Diezani was paying people to keep the story alive. At the
same time, she was whispering in [the president’s] ears that he had to take
action,” Oduah alleged.
Abdullahi wrote that Alison-Madueke asked the Economic and
Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) to arrest Oduah, but the plan was countered
by other members of the cabinet.
A presidential committee headed by Sambo Dasuki, then
national security adviser, eventually indicted Oduah.
When the president told her that she had to go, Oduah asked:
“Did Diezani ask you to sack me?”
Jonathan answered no, but there and then it was agreed that
she should be eased out of government.
On January 12, 2014, she was removed as minister.
Abdullahi, the author, was fired as minister of sport in
March 2014 by Jonathan allegedly on account of his “godfather”, Bukola Saraki,
who had joined other PDP rebels to defect to the APC.
Source: The Cable
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