Ex vs Current: Between FFK and Oduah, War Of Words| Aviation Industry Crises

There seem to be a brewing beef between the current Minister of Aviation Stella Oduah and the Ex Minster of Aviation Femi Fani-Kayode. Though its very appalling the state our aviation industry is at the moment, we all know its easy to criticise when one is not on the hot sit. Its funny how these politicians act like kids sometimes. 

See their statements after the cut

Firstly:

Plane Crash Is An Act Of God- Aviation Minister

                

Four days after a tragic crash involving an Associated Airline plane killed 14 people in Lagos, Minister of Aviation, Mrs. Stella Oduah, on Monday described accidents as God’s will that are  inevitable.

She said notwithstanding this reality, the Federal Government would continue to ensure there were no accidents.

Oduah made the submission while fielding questions from State House correspondents on investigations into the Thursday  Lagos crash, the safety of the nation’s airspace and the suspension of Dana Air’s operations, among other issues.

While reacting to a comment that the latest crash had  made nonsense of  government’s much-talked about reforms in the aviation sector, the minister said, “We do not pray for accidents  but they are inevitable. But we will continue to do everything to ensure that we do not have accidents. But an accident is an act of God.

“Again, we do not speculate on the cause of accidents.  Until  they happen, you cannot  say this is the cause or that is not the cause. But what is obvious and is the truth is that, in aviation, there are shared responsibilities, starting from the man that carries your luggage to the man that makes sure that your boarding pass is issued to you.

“And so, the regulatory agency, the operators, the management, everybody has his/her  responsibility and all must work in tandem for there to be an optimal, secure and safe aviation sector in the country. And that is what we have been working on.”

Oduah  described those saying that she left the issue of safety in the airspace to dwell on money-making ventures as ignorant.

She explained that security and safety could not be achieved without proper funding.

The minister said, “I think it is ignorant to say so because you cannot have security and safety without funding.  The aviation sector has to be funded. If you are talking safety for instance, you need to have the infrastructure that addresses that. If you are talking security, you need to have the infrastructure that addresses that and all   must be sustained and   maintained. And if you do not do that you are not just being sincere.

“When you talk about the issue of renovation, the terminal itself is the first safety and security facility that any passenger comes across. And so in a plan, you must start from A to Z.

“In aviation, it is often said that if you think safety and security   are  expensive, wait until accident happens and see how expensive it is. And so, everything we have done has been with security and safety as the  pivot. You cannot do anything in aviation without this.

“And what saddens me really is that ICAO said just last week that Nigeria was way above the global average. We actually scored 65 per cent. Secondly, ICAO said Nigeria was the 12th most safe aviation globally. And then when you hear bad comments;  people making comments that have  zero bearing on reality. It is very annoying.

“What I will advise the public really is to recognise the fact that aviation is a very professional area;  you cannot listen to bar (beer parlor) comments because they are just unrealistic and totally untrue.”

Oduah disclosed that the preliminary report on the Associated Arline  crash would be ready in a couple of weeks.

She said the ministry  was  waiting for the experts  from France before they could open up the engine of the plane  and to find out the cause of the accident.

The minister  said, “The preliminary report should be out in a couple of weeks. The experts  are coming from France and the manufacturer of the aircraft. We must have them regardless of how we want to accelerate  the investigation.

“We are waiting for them to come so that we can open the engine and find out exactly from them what went wrong. And you cannot do any of those without their presence. If you do that, then you have contaminated the investigation; so we must wait for them.”

She insisted that notwithstanding the latest crash, Nigerians should not be afraid to fly because the nation’s airspace was safe.

On the  suspension of Dana Air  operations,  Oduah said, “Their licence was not stopped. What we stopped are  their operations.They were  stopped because the law says that if there is anything noticed not in tandem with the policy, the regulation must stop and re-certify and make sure that there is compliance.”

She however refused to state the operational issues noticed in the case  of the airline.

Oduah added that 90 per cent of private jet operators were  operating outside the mandate and outside the policy.

She said that was why the government had to review the policy.

The minister also  said a situation where they operated in an “unregulated, unmonitored and uncontrolled” environment was no longer acceptable.

Then:

FFK blasts Aviation minister calls her "Vampire Minister"

Our Aviation minister Mrs Stella Oduah thinks that plane mishaps are an act of God. While fielding questions from state house correspondents on the recent Lagos air crash, Mrs Oduah said;

 “We do not pray for accidents  but they are inevitable. But we will continue to do everything to ensure that we do not have accidents. But an accident is an act of God."

Former Aviation minister Femi Fani Kayode took to twitter to respond to Mrs Oduah's comments...   

And Then:

Oduah Fires Back at FFK refers to him as "ignorant" 

The Minister of Aviation, Ms. Stella Oduah, on Tuesday hit back at Mr. Femi Fani-Koyede, describing the ex-aviation minister as an ignorant individual who “should bury his head in shame.”

Fani-Kayode had criticised the ruling Peoples Democratic Party for expressing confidence in Oduah despite the many air crashes that had characterised her tenure as aviation minister.

Oduah, while reacting to comments by Fani-Kayode, told journalists that the ex-minister was misleading innocent Nigerians. She spoke at an aviation safety event organised by the Nigerian Airspace Management Agency in Abuja.

She said, “I have huge sympathy for them, the ignorant people in particular. Because when you speak out of context, when you speak under the influence of whatever it is that you are under, you speak incorrectly and you mislead innocent Nigerians and that is what he has done. And he really should bury his head in shame.”

Finally Hopefully:

Femi Fani-Kayode however didn’t take much time before replying her saying she is a market woman n much more

"Stella Oduah made some comments about me today (yesterday) which were uncalled for, malicious and petty. She reportedly said that I should ”bow my head in shame”, suggested that I was ”speaking out of context” in my essay where I called for her resignation and that I spoke under some ”influence of something or other”. My advice and counsel to her is to grow up and stop being petty. She is meant to talk like someone who befits her office and not like a market woman, a fish wife or a creature from a Parisian bordello.
I do not like joining issues with women publiclly which is why I was very gentle with her in my essay though I made my point. But this particular woman is endangering the lives of our people with her incompetence and insensitivity and we cannot just keep quiet. This is a woman under whose watch almost 200 people have been killed as Aviation Minister and instead of focusing on how to save lives her obsession has become smearing and abusing Femi Fani-Kayode. This is a woman who only yesterday told Nigerians that ”accidents are inevitable” and that they were ”acts of God”. This is a woman who thinks more about how her headscarf looks, her jewellry and the jewellry of others more than she does about protecting Nigerian air travelers.
If anyone should bury her head in shame it is her and not me. After just under 200 of our fellow citizens have been killed under her watch instead of abusing her critics and those of us that have expressed our concern and offered our advise she should be seeking repentance from God and tendering her resignation. She should be attempting to encourage the Nigerian people and assuage their fears rather than indulging in petty and cheap sideshots and an futile press war. Instead of comforting the families of those that were lost she is opening her mouth and abusing me. What a shame. Under her tenure we have beautiful terminals but deadly and blood soaked skies. Our skies have become a death trap because she really doesn’t care.
My advice to her is to shut up, get serious and focus on doing her job rather than attempting to smear me with her filthy lies and malicious innuendos. I raised some serious issues in that essay that were clearly above her education level and I avoided personal insults. That is what civilised people do. She should learn from that and address the issues that were raised rather than spend her time trying to kill the messenger. When someone says that God is the author of fatal crashes you know that it is not the same God that we worship as that person. It is the devil that causes accidents and kills people and not God. You can say that a fatal accident is an act of God only if the devil is your god. When I speak and write I am under the influence of one thing and one thing alone- the Spirit of the Living God who sees through her and who knows her for what she is.
She is the one that is under the influence of one thing or the other and not me. She is the one whose hands are filled with blood. She is the one that must bury her head in shame and no-one else. I will pray for her because she needs it and I will pray for Nigeria to. May God deliver us from this vampire Minister."

We hope that the war of words between these two comes to an end real soon.