The Deputy Minority Leader of the House of Representatives and leader of the ANPP caucus, Hon. Suleiman Kawu, has condemned the denial of commercial permission to three airlines by the Ministry of Aviation, accusing the minister, Stella Oduah, of pursuing ‘a sectional agenda’.
The lawmaker, who made this accusation in a press statement yesterday, also called on President Goodluck Jonathan to call the minister to order in order not to portray his administration as a tribalistic one. The affected airlines are Etihad, Turkish and Emirates.
“On our part in the House of Representatives we will not allow this kind of thing to continue and we will deploy whatever powers we have to stop her.
“Most of the tension in the country now cannot be unconnected with the actions or inactions of those occupying government positions in Nigeria as certain sections of the country are consistently marginalised and left out in projects, appointments and other developmental issues. It now behoves on Mr. President to do the right thing by disassociating himself from those of his appointees, such as Stella Oduah who are all out to disunite Nigerians.”
Kawu noted that the affected airlines had consistently applied for permission to operate in Abuja airport but had been refused for the last one year.
“There is no justification for her action except that she is a tribalist, and no amount of grammar can explain her refusal to grant them the much need permit because they have enough passengers coming to Abuja,” he said.
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