The
Minister of Aviation, Ms. Stella Oduah, on Tuesday hit back at Mr. Femi
Fani-Kayode, describing him as an ignorant individual, who “should
hide his head in shame.”
Fani-Kayode, a former minister of
Aviation, had criticised the Peoples Democratic Party for expressing
confidence in Oduah despite the air crashes that had happened during
her tenure as minister.
“How many more people have to be killed
in air crashes before our President (Dr. Goodluck Jonathan) realises
that he needs a new Minister of Aviation?” Fani-Kayode had asked.
But Oduah said in Abuja that Fani-Kayode was misleading innocent Nigerians and needed sympathy.
She spoke at an aviation safety event
organised by the Civil Air Navigation Services Organisation and hosted
by the Nigerian Airspace Management Agency.
Oduah said, “I have huge sympathy for
them, the ignorant people in particular. Because when you speak out of
context, when you speak under the influence of whatever it is you are
under, you speak incorrectly and you mislead innocent Nigerians and that
is what he has done. And he really should hide his head in shame.”
Fani-Kayode, while reacting to Oduah’s comments about him, asked the minister to grow up and stop being petty.
He said, “My advice and counsel to her
is to grow up and stop being petty. She is meant to talk like someone
who befits her office and not like a market woman or a fish wife.
“I do not like joining issues with women publicly which is why I was very gentle with her in my essay though I made my point.
“But this particular woman is
endangering the lives of our people with her incompetence and
insensitivity and we cannot just keep quiet.
“This is a woman under whose watch
almost 200 people have been killed as Aviation Minister and instead of
focusing on how to save lives her obsession has become smearing and
abusing Femi Fani-Kayode.”
He said it was wrong for the minister to tell Nigerians that ‘’accidents are inevitable’’ and that they were ‘’acts of God.”
“This is a woman who thinks more about
how her headscarf looks, her jewelry and the jewelry of others more than
she does about protecting Nigerian air travellers,” he added.
He said if anyone should bury her head in shame it should be the minister and not him.
PUNCH
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