Former Aviation Minister, Femi Fani-Kayode, yesterday, took a swipe
at the incumbent Aviation Minister, Stella Oduah, describing her as
being unnecessarily petty in the handling of issues relating to the
industry.
Responding to remarks made by Oduah against him, Fani-Kayode said
that the incumbent Aviation minister and not him was the one who should
bury her head in shame over the shambolic handling of the industry since
her appointment.
Speaking yesterday at the opening ceremony of the African Regional
Conference of Civil Aviation Navigation Organisation, CANSO, in Abuja,
Oduah had dismissed Fani-Kayode over his ignorance, adding that his
comments on the aviation sector conveyed the impression that he was
under an unnatural influence.
She also stated that working with CANSO over the years had been fulfilling and enriching.
“The nation has had its fair share of challenges in the aviation
sector but has adopted an attitude of refusing to relent in moving
forward as a key strategy for improvement in the sector.”
According to her, “Aviation which is one of the drivers of the
economy has ensured that we achieve double digit economic growth.”
Fani-Kayode, however said that the remarks by the minister against him 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,”” he said.
“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.
“I do not like joining issues with women publicly 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 jewellery and the
jewellery of others more than she does about protecting Nigerian air
travellers.
“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 a 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 was 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 too. May God
deliver us from these people,” Fani-Kayode added.
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