Ex aviation minister Stella Oduah says Diezani instigated Jonathan into firing her from the cabinet.
Senator Stella Oduah who served as Aviation Minister in the Goodluck Jonathan era, has blamed Diezani Alison-Madueke (a former petroleum resources minister) for her sack from the cabinet in 2014.
Oduah got into trouble after it was revealed that she bought luxury bullet proof cars for herself--from coffers of aviation agencies she was supervising.
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The BMW armoured cars cost the Nigerian taxpayer $1.6M.
At the time, the Jonathan administration said it was relieving Stella Oduah, Minister of State for Finance, Dr. Yerima Ngama, Minister of Police Affairs, Navy Capt. Caleb Olubolade (rtd); and Minister of Niger Delta Affairs Elder Godsday Orubebe of their jobs in order to allow them pursue other interests.
Oduah would go on to contest and win an election as a Senator who represents Anambra north in the upper legislative chamber.
In a new book written by Bolaji Abdullahi, a spokesperson of the governing APC who also served in the Jonathan cabinet as Sports Minister, Oduah said her ouster was the result of intense power play and jealousy from her then colleague, Alison-Madueke.
Bolaji Abdullahi is author of new book (Signal)
The book is titled ‘On a Platter of Gold: How Jonathan Won and Lost Nigeria’.
Oduah told the author that Jonathan summoned her after the bullet-proof luxury car scandal became a subject of intense press coverage.
At the Villa on the day were former secretary to the government of the federation, Anyim Pius Anyim and Alison-Madueke who was one of Jonathan’s blue eyed ministers.
“I thought she had my back. I did not know at the time that she was actually fuelling it and orchestrating all the media attacks,” Abdullahi quotes Oduah as saying.
Former President Goodluck Jonathan (middle)
Goodluck Jonathan is flanked by Fani-Kayode during election campaign (Premium Times)
“I knew all along that Diezani could not deal with having another female around who had the kind of access I had to the president. But she went too far.
“She thought I was the one who leaked the issue of private jet that put her into trouble with the House of Representatives (Diezani was accused of spending N10B on chartered jets). For her it was payback time.”
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“Diezani was paying people to keep the story alive. At the same time, she was whispering in [the president’s] ears that he had to take action,” Oduah said.
Diezani is currently under probe at home and abroad for a slew of allegedly corrupt activities. She's been holed up in a London apartment since Buhari won the 2015 presidential election.
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