President Goodluck
Jonathan and the House
of Representatives may
clash over the probe into
the purchase of two
bulletproof cars for the
Minister of Aviation, Stella
Oduah, who is very close
to the President.
"I am sure you are
aware that the
President also set up
an administrative
panel to probe this
matter. If he has
confidence in the
House of
Representatives
probe and is duty-
bound to implement
its resolution, he
would not have
bothered to set up a
separate probe
panel .
"The position of this
government from
inception has been
that the resolutions
of the National
Assembly should be
seen strictly as what
they are: they are
simply advisory and
the President is not
legally bound to
implement them."
According to findings by
Punch, Jonathan had no
intention of acting on the
recommendation of the
House of Reps committee
that probed the scandal.
The House had
recommended that
Jonathan should sack
Stella for exceeding the
official limit in approving
the purchase of the two
bulletproof cars while
sanctions were also
recommended for the
former acting Director
General of NCAA,
Nkemakolam Joyce, and
the agency’s Director of
Finance, Salawu Ozigi.
The panel also reportedly
sought for the immediate
termination of a loan
agreement of N643,088,25
to finance the purchase of
54 vehicles (including the
armoured vehicles)
between the NCAA and the
First Bank of Nigeria;
Coscharis Motors Limited
is to be asked to refund
the N255m meant for the
bulletproof vehicles while
the EFCC should
investigate the company
for alleged abuse of
waivers.
But a very reliable source
in the Presidency told
Punch on Friday that the
President was not legally
bound to act on the
recommendations. The
source said if Jonathan
had wanted to act on the
report, he would not have
gone ahead to set up his
own three-man
administrative panel to
probe the same matter.
He said, “Let us all wait
for the President’s
administrative panel to
conclude its work and see
whether he will implement
the report or not.”
Reacting to moves to
cover up the scandal,
House of Reps
spokesman, Zakari
Mohammed said, “It is the
duty of the Executive to
implement reports; if they
say they will not
implement, it is left to
Nigerians to judge.”
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