IRS Airline emergency landing: Fresh calls for Aviation Minister, Stella Oduah’s sacking
An
emergency landing of an IRS Airlines Fokker 100 plane, with about 99
passengers and crew on board at the Kaduna airport on Sunday, has
ignited a fresh call for the sacking of the Minister of Aviation, Ms.
Stella Oduah.
The incident which occured some 10 days
after 15 people were killed in an Associated Airlines plane crash in
Lagos, was attributed to “a minor hydraulic problem” by Oduah on her
Facebook page.
But some Nigerians who are still sore
with the minister for describing air crashes as inevitable acts of God
last week said it was high time the Presidency ensured that competent
hands were put in charge of the affairs of the aviation sector.
Many online commentators contested that
Oduah, who has since been christened “Madam act of God” on social media,
has no excuse to justify episodes of crashes and near-crashes.
Some lamented that the era when the
country was used as a dumping ground for planes that are not fit to fly
in Europe and North America as a result of improper regulation must
end.
They said if Oduah believed that she had
been overwhelmed by the demands of the job, she should resign
and give
room for competent hands to man the ministry with a view to ensuring
that the Nigerian airspace is made safe for travellers.
Leading the campaign for Oduah’s sacking
is one of her predecessors, former Minister of Aviation, Femi
Fani-Kayode. In a Twitter post on Monday, he hinted that he does not
have an axe to grind with her but that the safety of the airways was of
primary concern to all.
“God is speaking and sending a
signal.The crash landing of IRS in Kaduna a few days after the Lagos
crash proves that. Fire Stella Oduah now!” he tweeted.
Also aligning himself with Fani-Kayode’s
position, a Twitter user, Jide Sowemimo, accused Oduah of not
supervising operations of the aviation industry thoroughly.
“Where in the world would Stella Oduah
remain in charge of aviation? Is it when a plane falls on Aso Rock?
Please, who is in charge of the regulatory agencies? Isn’t it the
government? The problem here is mostly a failure of regulation,”
Sowemimo said.
Another Twitter user, Wole Awosika, in a
tweet to Oduah wrote, “We don’t care about human lives here, Stella
Oduah should have resigned or be sacked by now. It smacks of gross
incompetence and negligence.”
However, some Nigerians who are
disturbed by the safety of the airspace in the country have taken the
campaign for her sacking to her Facebook page.
While many of her Facebook friends
lauded her for re-modelling and upgrading some airports, some were quick
to point out that safety was more paramount and, as such, she should
not value her job more than the lives of hundreds of Nigerian air
travellers.
On Oduah’s Facebook wall, Olawale
Abidemi-Oni said the minister was losing the battle in making the
airspace safer and urged her to “leave right now” and save herself from
being disgraced from office.
He wrote, “Dear madam Minister, you seem
to have missed it as it concerns air safety/confidence in Nigeria. It
is on record that your tenure has witnessed the major avertable air
disasters in Nigeria. Madam Minister, it seems you are losing the battle
in this all critical sector in Nigeria, to solve a problem, you need to
realise that the problem exists in the first place, this you and your
aides have not done.
“I will suggest that you launch a
thorough investigation/audit into all the airplanes in Nigeria,
especially as it concerns their air worthiness, maintenance and quality
of personnel. Any airline that doesn’t meet up to the required criteria
should have its licence suspended until such airline meets up.
“And again, it seems as if the rot in
that sector overwhelms you, I will suggest you leave right now if you
can’t handle the pressure now that the ovation is loudest and not be
disgraced out of office.”
Meanwhile, an army of supporters have
also risen for Oduah. According to her supporters, Fani-Kayode, who
served as aviation minister between November 2006 and May, 2007, is not
in a good stead to champion a campaign against Oduah.
A particular Twitter user, Julian
Uwandulu, wrote, “The truth is you (Fani-Kayode) are no different from
Oduah. In the court of morality you aren’t any better than Oduah. So,
honestly give it a rest on this attack on her and the ministry. I am not
holding forte for her but she has tried. Rather than tongue lash her,
why don’t you support and criticise her objectively.”
