N255m car scandal: Nigerians mobilise support for whistleblower

What have the men in authority turned this country into, i still can't believe that a man like Capt. Fola Akinkuotu who is the Director-General of the Nigeria Civil Aviation Authority could comfortable make such declarations on air! I'm happy for the reactions from Nigerians over this mess of a statement. please read how Punch reports the matter... Nigerians have expressed anger with the Federal Government for threatening to punish the person(s) that blew the lid on the purchase of two cars at N255m for the Minister of Aviation, Ms. Stella Oduah.

The Director-General of the Nigeria Civil Aviation Authority, Capt. Fola Akinkuotu, whose agency procured the two armoured vehicles for Oduah, had tagged the whistleblower, one of its employees, a criminal, stating that a manhunt had begun for him.

Claiming that the purchase of the cars followed due process,  Akinkuotu had explained that the vehicles would not only convey the minister but also be used by visiting foreign dignitaries whenever they are in Nigeria. Continue reading

But Nigerians say the explanation given by the NCAA boss and subsequent resolve to sanction the whistleblower is a desperate attempt to suppress freedom of expression.

According to them, whoever exposes corruption and abuse of office should be celebrated and encouraged by the Federal Government as against the current situation where it is threatening a crackdown on the whistleblower.

Nigerians,  who have since moved to the social media to condemn the way and manner the FG is handling the aviation scandal, observed that they had expected the Presidency and the anti-corruption agencies to have risen up to the challenge of quizzing the key players in the debacle.

“Imagine, the FG that is boasting that it is fighting corruption is out there looking for a whistleblower? Who should honour whistleblowers like kings if not our FG?” one Idris Ogunbadejo wrote on Twitter.

Also, one Biodun Jagaban tweeted, “It’s a shame that our leaders are shameless and will try anything to cover-up their corrupt practices. Why is the FG looking for the aviation industry whistleblower instead of questioning Stella Oduah?”

A former Minister of Education, Dr. Obiageli Ezekwesili, said the explanation given by Akinkuotu could at best be called a “nursery level reaction.”

In a Twitter post she noted, “I just read this nursery level reaction by a director-general of NCAA. How did we fall this low, Nigeria? No wonder the cost of governance has reached such repugnant and stratospheric level. How long before the Federal Government acts to stem this unsustainable tide?”

But a Nigerian human rights lawyer based in the United States, Aminu Gamawa, has pledged to mobilise 100 lawyers to provide a free legal service in the event that criminal charges are preferred against the whistleblower.

He argued on his Twitter page that Nigerians owe their fatherland a duty to expose corrupt officials and not shield them even in the face of threats of persecution.

“If there is law that says we must keep quiet when crime is committed, that law is bad law which deserves no respect. If you see something wrong, say it. Corruption is a crime. We all have the moral obligation to report and expose crimes. I’m mobilising 100 lawyers to defend this whistleblower in court, if the need arises. If you believe in justice join us,” Gamawa wrote.

 A Twitter user, Yomi Akinsola, described the Goodluck Jonathan-led Federal Government as “shameless” and called for “a mass movement” to save the whistleblower.

He said progressive Nigerians and anti-corruption activists owe it a duty to support and protect the embattled whistleblower.

Akinsola stated, “Now they want to press charges against the person who made Nigerians know how much the aviation minister spent on bullet proof cars. There has to be a mass movement to save this guy! What manner of government do we have! This government is shameless wasteful and wicked.

“The whistleblower must not be harmed! A good name is still better than riches, because a good name opens honourable doors. Accountability of our leaders help to check corruption, mismanagement and financial impropriety! Our leaders at all levels must be accountable!”

Another online commentator, Henry Okelue,  rubbished the anti-corruption campaign of the FG,  stating that the planned clampdown on the whistleblower is a setback to the Freedom of Information Act, signed into law by the President.

“Why plan to arrest the whistleblower? Is the Minister of Aviation the President? Is buying luxury cars a national security matter? If the FG is going after the whistleblower as reported in the media, then the Freedom of Information Act in itself is a joke,” Okelue wrote on Twitter.

Summing up the opinions and concerns expressed by many Nigerians online, political blogger, Japheth Omojuwa, tweeted, “Any country where the evil ones are allowed to take down the good ones without a public stand for the latter is a doomed country.

“Take away three or maybe four people, the FG is a gang of the worst possible collection of Nigerians. Is going after the whistleblower in line with President Jonathan’s transformation agenda?”