A Chieftain of the All Progressives Congress, APC, Dr Haruna Gololo, has urged the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, to investigate the immediate past Minister of Aviation over unpleasant discoveries In the purported lunch of Nigeria Air aircraft.Gololo made the call while addressing a news conference in Abuja on Tuesday.
He was reacting to the disclosures by the Acting Managing Director of Nigeria Air, Capt Dapo Olumide, during an investigative hearing of the Senate Committee on Aviation over the state of Nigeria Air project.
Olumide had disclosed at the investigative hearing that the supposed Nigeria Air aircraft that flew in with the logo of Nigeria Air was chartered from Ethiopian Airlines for the purpose of unveiling the logo.
He also disclosed that the airline was yet to secure an operating licence for full flight operations, contrary to the submission of the past minister of aviation on Air Nigeria.
Olumide had told the Senate committee that the aircraft was used pending the completion of the processes required for the operation of the airline.
Gololo, however, said: ”we are giving the EFCC two weeks to arrest and investigate the former Minister of Aviation and other key participants in the former President Muhammadu Buhari’s administration.”
He said if the EFCC could go after “Yahoo Boys,” for alleged scams, the anti-graft agency could as well go after the government officials for alleged monumental fraud .
”Only yesterday the Senate Committee on Aviation confirmed the fear and suspicion of many Nigerians, when it unearthed the issues in the aviation sector by the immediate past minister, indicating that procurement of Nigeria Air was a scam which gulped billions of tax payers funds.”
Gololo, who was Coordinator of the North-East Tinubu, Shettima support group during the general elections asked, “What happened to the M11.3 trillion spent on the Turn Around Maintenance ( TAM), of the Kaduna, Warri and Port Harcourt refineries?
”But today the Minister of State for Petroleum Resources, who awarded the contracts, has gone to run for governorship election to seek immunity. “There are several other MDAs that were looted under Buhari’s administration.”
He expressed displeasure over the appointment of the new Executive Director of Nigerian Midstream and Downstream Petroleum Regulatory Authority (NMDPRA) by the out -gone administration, saying that the appointee was in NNPC while refineries remained functional.