Victor Nze
4 July 2008
Lagos — Former governor of Rivers State, and Presidential aspirant in the 2007 general elections, Dr. Peter Odili, has refuted allegations of manipulating funds meant for the aviation sector to facilitate his botched presidential campaign levelled against him by former Managing Director of Federal Airport Authority of Nigeria (FAAN) Mr. Mohammed Yusuf, at the on-going Senate investigations into the N19.5 billion Aviation Intervention Fund.
Reacting to the allegation which was also reported in some dailies on July 2, Media Adviser to Dr. Odili, Mr. Emma Okah, in a statement made available to Daily Champion, described the allegation 'as a deliberate falsehood and grave distortion of fact.'
According to him, the said N2 billion loan advanced by the Rivers State government under the Odili administration to the Federal government and its parastatals for the repair of the closed Port Harcourt international Airport in 2006 was not politically motivated as widely being alleged, but instead provided purely in a bid 'to alleviate the plight of travellers who suffered untold hardships following the sudden closure of the airport and to those whose earnings were from activities in and around the airport.'
"When it became obvious that the Federal Ministry of Aviation was not in a financial position to begin the supposed repair works on time and given the bottlenecks that were attending the release of funds at that time, the Rivers State Government Executive Council passed a resolution granting a soft loan to the Federal Government and the Federal Ministry of Aviation to enable immediate commencement of works at the airport. This repayable facility was only intended to bridge the gap and save time. The negotiations with contractors, and indeed the schedule of disbursements were not the purview of the State Government and were exclusively done by Federal Ministry of Aviation/FAAN," he noted
Okah further stated that in the negotiations that followed, the state government was not even part of the meetings between the federal government and the contractor, and that a special account was opened at the Zenith Bank Plc to disburse the N2 billion loan to Federal Ministry of Transportation/FAAN, without the involvement of the Rivers State government.
He therefore, described as 'extremely sad the allegation as the former governor's intentions were for 'good governance and overriding public interest.'
"Since there was (and still is) an alternative airport facility at the Nigeria Air Force Base (NAF Base) in Port Harcourt, it is not correct to say that the N2 billion loan was granted to Federal Ministry of Aviation/FAAN to facilitate the Presidential ambition of Dr. Peter Odili because Dr. Odili members of the PDP and all indeed other political parties, and most importantly, the general public used the NAF Base throughout one year period of closure of the Omagwa International Airport. In Nigeria, airports are not built for presidential aspirants but for the general public."
"It is common knowledge today that the Nigeria Air force Base Port Harcourt, as rehabilitated by the Rivers State Government, was and is still used by various official, private and commercial aircraft before the international airport was reopened this year," said Okah in the statement.
The media aide therefore reiterated that the loan in question was a matter for the Rivers state government and people to settle as it belonged to them.
"Most importantly, the said N2 billion loan and all rights there belong to Rivers State Government and the people and must be treated as such," Odili's aide said.
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