The Chairman, Senate Committee on Aviation, Senator Hope Uzodima, has explained that the embattled Minister of Aviation, Ms. Stella Oduah, and heads of agencies under her ministry, did not appear before the senate during its plenary on Tuesday because his committee had yet to invite her.
Uzodima, who spoke with journalists after the plenary, said the Senate on Tuesday, had just approved the votes and proceedings of its sitting on October 8, where the senators unanimously agreed to summon the aviation minister and the heads of agencies under her.
Uzodima said, “With the approval of the votes and proceedings of the last Senate session today (Tuesday), containing the summon on the minister, our committee will now meet within this week to fix the exact date to invite the minister and other relevant aviation chiefs for questioning on the troubled sector.”
On why the Senate was allegedly foot-dragging on the N255m armoured car scandal involving the minister, Uzodima justified the position of his colleagues, who decided not to speak on the issue for now.
He said, “As the Chairman of the Senate Committee on Aviation, I have read a lot on the alleged scandal in the media and I believe other members of the committee are also up to date on the raging issue.
“However, we cannot jump into the fray of the controversy like that on the strength of media information alone without properly checking our records for facts and figures on whether the alleged vehicles bought were appropriated for, or not by the agencies that purchased them.
“Our appeal to the general public for now is that they should exercise patience on the entire crises bedevilling the aviation sector as the Senate, and in particular its committee on aviation, will surely carry out thorough investigation to unravel all issues behind the whole crises.”
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