Bulletproof cars: Dismiss Oduah’s suit, FG tells court

The office of the Attorney-General of the Federation has asked a Federal High Court in Lagos to strike out a fundamental rights enforcement suit filed against it by a former Minister of Aviation, Mrs. Stella Oduah.

oduah

Oduah is seeking to restrain the AGF and others from probing her over the purchase of two armoured BMW cars by the Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority under her watch in 2013.

The ex-minister claimed that the ruling All Progressives Congress government had perfected plans to try prominent members of the Peoples Democratic Party, including herself, on trumped up charges in a Lagos State government-controlled court.

Oduah, who is now representing Anambra North in the Senate, is, through her lawyer, Mr. Ajibola Oluyede, urging the court to bar the respondents in the suit from being used by the Federal Government to unleash repression on her.

The 1st and 2nd defendants in the suit are the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission and the Independent Corrupt Practices and other related offences Commission.

The case is now before Justice Okon Abang, after it was transferred from Justice Mohammed Yunusa, who granted Oduah an interim injunction on August 26, 2015, restraining the respondents from taking any action against her pending the determination of the main suit.

At the resumed proceedings before Justice Abang on Monday, a counsel from the Office of the AGF, Mr. T.A.Gazali, told the court that the AGF had filed a preliminary objection to Oduah’s suit, adding that same had also been served on Oduah’s lawyer, Oluyede.

Oluyede confirmed that the AGF’s preliminary objection had been served on him, adding that he had also filed a reply.

Justice Abang, however, said none of the processes was in the case file passed onto him from the former court.

He adjourned further proceedings in the case till November 24, 2015, by which time all the processes would have been before him.

The AGF, in its objection, is challenging the territorial jurisdiction of the Lagos division of the Federal High Court to hear Oduah’s suit on the ground that the alleged rights violation did not take place in Lagos.

Gazali is contending that by virtue of Section 46(1) of the constitution and Order 2 Rule 1 of the Fundamental Rights Enforcement Procedure, only a court within the state where Oduah’s rights were allegedly violated could hear the case.

“From the whole of the applicant’s averments, there is nowhere she mentioned that her right was or is being breached by the respondents within the territorial space called Lagos.

“There is nothing to show that the applicant was invited, arrested or detained in Lagos by any of the respondents in the suit.

“The Federal High Court sitting in Lagos cannot assume jurisdiction to entertain alleged breach of fundamental rights that did not take place in Lagos State,” Gazali argued.

The AGF also said Oduah had not established any cause of action against it, having not proved that she had been invited, arrested or detained by the AGF.

“The applicant’s suit is not in conformity with Order IX of the Fundamental Rights Enforcement Procedure Rules 2009, hence null and void.

“The applicant’s case for the most part is hypothetical and speculative,” Gazali said.

Bulletproof cars: Dismiss Oduah’s suit, FG tells court

Return N255m bulletproof cars - House tells NCAA

The House of Representatives has mandated the Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA) to return the controversial bulletproof cars bought for the use of former Minister of Aviation  Ms Stella Oduah to its suppliers and the money paid for it recovered.The cars were bought for N255m.

House Aviation Committee Chair Hon. Nkiruka Onyejeocha stated this yesterday during an oversight visit to the NCAA offices in Lagos. The committee probed the deal which went awry and made recommendations to the House.

Onyejeocha said the committee insisted that the NCAA must return the controversial cars to the suppliers because the house was not satisfied with the relationship between the bank that facilitated the purchase of the cars and the aviation agency.

She said should the NCAA fail to return the cars to its suppliers, the committee would be forced to call for a public hearing on the issue.

She said:” Those bulletproof cars should be returned to the suppliers and the money recovered. We will call public hearing on the matter of they fail to return the cars.”

The committee mandated aviation agencies to communicate to it in writing their response to all issues raised before next week to enable it take a position on their activities.

Also yesterday, Ms Oduah admitted that low interest loans were obtained during her tenure to finance projects under the Aviation Master Plan.

But she was silent on the actual figure of the debt she left behind.

Oduah, who opened up on the controversial N174billion debt in the ministry, asked the managers in the aviation sector to keep faith with the Master Plan which can pay the debt and leave surplus.

The former Minister spoke through her Special Assistant, Dr. Daniel Tarka,in a statement in Abuja.

Although the statement disputed the N174billion debt, Oduah was not forthcoming on the actual worth of the loans obtained.

The statement said: “Our attention has been drawn to media reports that the Ministry of Aviation under the immediate past Minister, Princess Stella Adaeze Oduah incurred a staggering debt of N174billion under the aviation Master Plan. Nothing can be further from the truth.

”While we commend the National Assembly, especially the Senate and House of Representatives Committees on Aviation for supporting and keying into the aviation Master Plan, it is however, imperative to put the records straight on the alleged indebtedness,  the loans obtained during that period and the mode of repayment.

”The agenda for the transformation of the aviation sector which warranted the conceptualization of the Master Plan was for the industry to be fully self sustaining by 2016; and begin to yield additional revenue for government through improved Internally Generated Revenue (IGR).

“In order to achieve the above objectives, we embarked on the upgrade and rehabilitation of the 22 federally-owned airports across the country under the Airport Remodelling Programme (ARP).

“As part of measures to effectively implement the Master Plan, several sources of funding were identified. These include, (i) Annual budgetary allocations; (ii) Internally Generated Revenue (IGR), including airport development levy and security surcharge; (iii) Bilateral Air Services Agreement (BASA) funds; (iv) Low interest loans, amongst others.

”Besides the statutory approvals, the ministry designed the projects with in-built capacities to generate funds without having to place any further financial burden on the Federal Government within the period.”

She said the projects under the Master Plan  were not meant for 2013 alone.

She added: “It must also be stressed that these projects were not designed to start and end in 2013, and so, were not tied to the 2013 budget alone.

“The Master Plan, it must be noted again, wasn’t designed with only the 2013 budget cycle in mind. It was conceptualized to be implemented as a process and not a destination.

“Therefore, the projection of revenue streams within the life span of the Master Plan are such that all projects would be adequately financed from budgetary allocations and the identified revenue sources; with the high possibility of surpluses that can subsequently be deployed for the repayment of the loans on maturity after the period of moratorium. The question of liabilities therefore, do not arise.

”We are convinced that an efficient and effective implementation of the Master Plan would guarantee the realisation of these revenue projections, facilitate the seamless implementation of the projects and ensure the rapid development of the sector into a net revenue earner for the government within the next three years.

”We therefore implore the current managers of the sector to exploit these well-laid foundations that were left behind by the former minister and her team.”

Return N255m bulletproof cars - House tells NCAA