The minister, who was said to have found
it difficult to see the President in Abuja since the scandal broke out,
was said to have also sent many emissaries to speak with the President
on the matter.
Though official sources said Oduah was in Israel to sign Bilateral services agreement on behalf of Nigeria with Israel.
It was gathered that she would use the
meeting to inform the President that those mounting pressure on him to
sack her were his political enemies who did not want him to contest the
presidential election in 2015.
A source close to Oduah said, “The minister would use this argument to sway the President to her side.
“She would inform the President not to
allow his enemies triumph over him and should also know that if those
enemies succeed in pushing her out, then many of the trusted aides of
the President would be the next target.”
It was also gathered that the meeting
would also afford the minister the opportunity to seek audience with
the National Security Adviser to the President, Sambo Dasuki, who is one
of the members of the administrative panel set up by the President to
investigate the minister. Sambo is also in Israel.
The minister played an important role during the 2011 presidential campaign by overseeing Neighbour-to-Neighbour, which was considered to be one of the potent propaganda arms of President Jonathan campaign organisation was then.
She is said to have been also pencilled down to play a more important role in 2015 for the President.
Apart from this, the minister was said to have marshalled out some points concerning the purchase of the controversial vehicles.
One of which was that the documents of the vehicles did not bear her name.
A statement signed by the spokesperson for the Nigerian Civil Aviation Authorities, Mr. Yakubu Datti on Tuesday confirmed this.
Datti said, “No mention is made of the
fact that, of all the documents paraded for the vehicles, none mentioned
the name of the Minister of Aviation.
But the Special Adviser to the President
on Media and Publicity, Dr. Rueben Abati said, Oduah decided to travel
to Israel ahead of the President rather than waiting to be part of his
entourage, because presidential delegation was usually divided into
segments.
He said in most of the trips, relevant
ministers were expected to travel ahead in order to do the ground works
for the President and brief him on arrival.
He said, “Presidential delegation is
divided into segments. The President has a main body team that travels
with him. Some people can travel ahead of him, it is not everybody that
can travel with him. How many people can the presidential aircraft
carry?
“That the minister travelled ahead of
him is not an issue. Ministers usually go ahead of the President to do
ground work, if there are meetings to be done before the President’s
arrival, they would have done them. That is how it is done.
“In many of these trips, there will be
pre-event meetings that ministers would have attended so that when the
President comes, they will brief him. This is not an issue.”
Abati also said that the Presidency did
not grant the NCAA any approval to procure the controversial N255m
vehicles for the embattled minister.
In an interview with one of our corespondents, Abati, dared the NCAA to produce the approval if indeed such existed.
“That is not true. If they have a
presidential approval, let them produce it. People are just trying to
politicise the issue. The President has already set up a panel to
investigate. That panel has the responsibility to look at all issues
that may come up and all issues that have already come up.
“I think people should stop speculating.
We should allow that panel to do its job. We should not politicise its
work. What they can remain assured of is that the President is
interested in the matter,” Abati said.
PUNCH
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