Update On Stella Oduah's Controversial Sack

The active online community was jolted back to political reality on Wednesday afternoon, when the news of the sacking of controversial Minister of Aviation, Stella Oduah, filtered in. Although the consensus of several Nigerians on Twitter and Facebook is that her resignation came late, many still consider it as good news.

Writer, social commentator, Tolu Ogunlesi, tweeted: “So BMW Queen @stellaoduah is no longer a minister of the Federal Republic of Nigeria?”

Former lawmaker, Dino Melaye, also joined the unending debate on Twitter. His tweet read:

“Well-done, Mr President, for sacking Orubebe and Stella Oduah. Though belated, kudos, GEJ. Deziani is next on line. The people are winning.” 

Dino Melaye later wrote, “We will re-file our cases against Stella Oduah and Orubebe at the EFCC and in court. No public thief will go unpunished. Power is transient.”

Another group of persons blame her for refusing to step aside honorably at the peak of the crisis.

Stella Oduah first came under fire and public scrutiny last October after the Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority purchased two bulletproof BMW cars at an inflated rate of N255m. 

Like the proverbial cat with nine lives, the ex-minister had survived criticism and probes in the past months. Also, most recently, she allegedly lied about her qualifications in the resume she presented to the Senate for her confirmation hearing. The university she claimed say they don't even offer an MBA.

It is thus not surprising that her sack appears to have overshadowed that of the other affected ministers, as all commentators made little or no mention of them in their tweets or posts.

Although the news flying round is that they (affected ministers) resigned, a cabinet source told The Punch that: "They were dropped, they did not resign.”

One of the Nigerians who reacted to the belated sack of Stella Oduah by Jonathan, said:

“After almost four months after the news broke? I’m sure her bank account is now full and she doesn’t need the job anymore. This Jonathan is always late and behind in decision making? I guess the question is: Why now?

“Imagine the kind of President we have. Just waking up from stupor? This is the kind of leader that allows his followers to slaughter others before making a decisions.”