Minister of Aviation, Ms. Stella Oduah
Embattled
Minister of Aviation, Ms. Stella Oduah, could not appear before the
senate on Thursday as scheduled because Senate President David Mark was
absent at plenary.
The minister has therefore been directed
to come before the senate Thursday next week when Mark is expected to
personally lead the probe of the minister over the crisis in the
aviation industry, especially the recent crash of an Associated Airlines
plane conveying the corpse of ex-Ondo State Governor Olusegun Agagu
from Lagos to Akure.
Our correspondent learnt on Thursday
that the minister and her aides were already on their way to the senate
when they were told that their appearance had been shifted to next week.
Senate Leader, Victor Ndoma-Egba, based
on the Order Paper, had asked his colleagues to receive the minister and
other aviation executives who were invited to brief the senate on state
of aviation sector and the higher number of aviation incidents.
But the Deputy Senate President, Senator
Ike Ekweremadu, informed his colleagues that the minister and her team
would not be received again on Thursday because Mark was not available.
Ekweremadu said Mark had signified his
intention to personally preside over the session before he travelled to
the United Arab Emirates as the head of the Federal Government
delegation to render moral support for the country’s Under-17
footballers, Golden Eaglets, who will play in the final of the global
tournament in Dubai on Friday (today).
He said, “I think we should oblige the
Senate President that opportunity to preside over the session because he
was passionate about it and he would have been around today but for the
last minute national assignment given to him.”
Ndoma-Egba therefore moved another
motion for the postponement of Oduah’s visit to Thursday while the
Minority Whip, Senator Ganiyu Solomon, seconded him.
It will be recalled that Oduah could not
appear before the Senate on Wednesday during plenary because she sought
a last minute permission from the Senators to attend the weekly Federal
Executive Council meeting.
Oduah had been summoned by the upper
legislative chamber to explain her roles in the ill-fated crash
involving a 23 year – old Propeller aeroplane on the fleet of the
Associated Airlines, last month.
The senators, it was learnt, would also
be free to ask the minister specific questions on the purchase of two
armoured cars at N255m.
The Senate Committee on Aviation on
Monday postponed indefinitely a public sitting where officials of the
Nigeria Civil Aviation Authority were already seated to answer questions
on the controversial purchase.
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