Probe of bulletproof car scandal belated — ARG

A Yoruba socio-political organisation, Afenifere Renewal Group, has described as late in the day the presidential investigation into the purchase of two bulletproof BMW cars worth $1.6m (about N255m) for the Minister of Aviation, Ms Stella Oduah, by the Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority. President Goodluck Jonathan on Wednesday inaugurated a three-man administrative panel of enquiry to probe the allegation. The group’s Publicity Secretary, Mr. Kunle Famoriyo, in a telephone interview with our correspondent on Friday, said the effort to shield the minister would fail. He said, ‘‘The presidential investigation is late in the day. The King is already dancing naked. It will burst loose one day. For us in Afenifere Renewal Group, we say ‘no’ to financial terrorism in Nigeria. The spirit of man will not be caged forever.’’ The group also observed that the scandal was a pointer to the fact that morality in governance had been relegated to the background. According to the group, the scenario has shown that Nigeria as it was configured has always been a big time scam. ‘‘They are shamelessly unconcerned about the people. As far as the likes of Oduah in Abuja are concerned, it is God that has ‘buttered their bread’, the children of the poor can go to the gutters or wait for their turn to loot the government treasury, since government is the only profitable business in Nigeria today. Ordinary Nigerians can make do with ‘acts of God’ and acts of men but those in power make up their own acts,” ARG said. The group said nobody should be deceived that the country was sustainable at the rate at which financial recklessness was being perpetrated by those in power. Besides, it said such amount of money could have been useful in financing scholarship opportunities for students and people-oriented projects for the citizenry. ARG added, ‘‘It is shameful that in a country where the majority can barely afford three-square meals a day, one person is appropriating such an amount for her comfort and vanity. In a civilised country, the culprit would have resigned immediately the story broke.’’ Meanwhile, the President of the Arewa Youth Consultative Forum, Mr. Yerima Shettima, has said the minister should be sacked or prosecuted if findings of the panel indicted her. Shettima said, ‘‘In a country like ours, anything is possible. Our stand in AYCF is that since a panel has been inaugurated, we will await its findings and should the minister be found culpable, she should be sacked or prosecuted.’’