Jonathan, Spare Oduah At Your Own Peril By Charles Ofoji

On Sept 5 2012 in my Wednesday column in the Blueprint Newspaper, I chastised Presidential Goodluck Jonathan for presidential double standards. He sacked or pressurized erstwhile Energy Minister, Prof Barth Nnaji to resign over allegations of conflict of interest, while allowing Deziani Allison Madueke to stay on as Petroleum Minister, despite the gigantic fraud and mismanagement in the NNPC under her ministry. If Nigeria, a dominant oil producer, fictitiously paid over $8billion US dollars in importing fuel in 2011, under the watch of Madueke, she must be vicariously held liable. Then, I wrote that “it remains a surprise to me that Jonathan is still holding steadfastly to her.”
I also bemoaned the double standard exhibited by the President by allowing Doyin Okupe, then newly appointed Senior Special Assistant on public affairs, to continue to remain in office, in spite of the criminal allegations against him. Okupe got heavily tainted with allegations of running away with contract sums for contract awards he got in Benue and Imo. He never executed the projects and there was a certifiable ongoing criminal investigation against him by the police. As typical of Nigeria, the investigation was placed on ice once Nigerians turned their minds on other things challenging their existence.
Then, President Jonathan, by his actions, merely told us that there are two types of people serving under him – the touchables and the untouchables.
Recently, one of the “special ones” in Jonathan’s cabinet got herself embroiled in another scandal. Aviation Minister, Ms Stella Oduah pressed a cash strapped agency under her watch to illegally purchase two bullet-proof BMWs for her personal use. Nigerians again are calling for her sack. It is not the first time the minister is getting into trouble because, in my view, she was never prepared in life to be where she is today.
If not for Jonathan’s double standards when he needs to be decisive as president, Oduah would not have caused him this further embarrassment. As aviation minister, when the plane carrying the corpse of former Ondo State governor, Olusegun Agagu crashed due to the failure of the Aviation Ministry to carry out its responsibilities, all she could say was that plane crashes were inevitable. If there was any doubt that Oduah is a round peg in a square hole, this should have erased it.
Nevertheless, Jonathan is the kind of president who will go at any length to protect the untouchables in his administration. Oduah’s outburst was the least expected of someone who occupies the office of minister of aviation. The first time I went to the Murtala Mohammed Airport to see off a friend, who was going to the United States of America, was in 1987. Since that night when the Swiss Air carrying my friend lifted from the tarmac under the typical Nigerian darkness and turned its nose towards Zurich en route New York, planes belonging to foreign airlines come daily to Nigeria to carry away Nigerians going abroad. Till date none has crashed. It is not an accident. It is so because the countries under which such planes operate subject them to strict regulation. In Germany for example, like in most European countries, no commercial plane has crashed in the last twenty years, in spite of the fact that at the Frankfurt airport, and other airports littered in the country, there is no second minute without a plane taking off or landing.
A serious president would have dismissed Oduah when she made that irresponsible and insensitive statement. But now the kind of mess she has put herself into is one that Jonathan will only mess himself up if he tried to protect her.
The signs are that Jonathan is reluctant to yield the stick against a woman who helped to finance his challenge for the Presidency in 2011. What for do you need a panel of inquiry that would further waste tax payers money? Oduah must not be found guilty of a crime before she ought to be dispensed of. It is enough if she has not behaved properly or if she has lost the confidence of the Nigerian people. As things stand now, both conditions have been met.
It was childish of Oduah to respond to the grievous allegation against her by brushing up ethnic sentiments and saying that it was the work of the enemies of Jonathan’s administration. This is too simplistic and a slap of the faces of Nigerians who have a right to demand answers.
The last we heard is that she has gone to Israel with the President. It is suspected that a lot of lobbying would take place there with a view to saving her job. Jonathan may be reluctant to do the right thing in Oduah’s case. But I know that this president is wise. At times, it is useless to save a drowning man, especially when you may eventually go down with him.
Oduah has a hopeless case. She is irredeemable. There are times to say goodbye to friends. Mr. President, that time has come for you. Oduah has become a political burden for you. You can only save her at your own political peril – rubbishing your legacy for a woman who got carried away by power and influence.

*checkpointcharley@yahoo.de*