Former minister of aviation, Princess Stella Oduah, will
contest for a seat in the senate in 2015,
TheCable has learnt.
Oduah, who was dropped from the cabinet early this year after the controversial
purchase of bullet-proof cars, will contest for the Anambra north slot on the
platform of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).
However, she will first have to dislodge the current
senator, Mrs Margaret Okadigbo ─ widow of Dr. Chuba Okadigbo ─ who fought all
the way to the Supreme Court before she could take her seat in 2013, two years
after her election.
Oduah, who comes from Akili-Ozizor in Ogbaru LGA, is
believed to enjoy the backing of the PDP hierarchy and is not expected to find
it difficult to get the party’s nomination.
She was subsequently
made minister of aviation ─ where she developed a roadmap for the remodelling
and renovation of the nation’s 22 airports. However, she ran into a storm last
year over the purchase of two BMW armoured cars for N255 million by the National
Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA).
. In what could be the pre-amble to her senatorial bid, she
was recently given the chieftaincy title of Ada Eze Chukwu for her “outstanding
service to Nigeria” by the traditional ruler of Ogbaru, Igwe Nelson Ethmal. She
has also been honoured with an “award of excellence” by Ndigbo Lagos.
An associate of the
former minister told TheCable that Oduah decided to give the senate a shot
because she believes she still has “a lot” to contribute to national
development. “Look at her record at the aviation ministry in less than three
years. Never in the history of Nigeria has there been such a revolutionary
approach to the development of the aviation industry in terms of infrastructure
and safety,” he said. The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC)
recently said she was still under probe over the BMW car affair, but she
insists she did not commit any fraud.
Source: TheCable
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