An anti-corruption campaign organisation, Anti-Corruption Network, ACN, on Friday, gave the Aviation Minister, Stella Oduah, 72 hours to refund the N255 million used to purchase two armoured vehicles on her behalf by an agency under her supervision.
The group also called for the minister's resignation.
The group, which gave the ultimatum at a news conference in Abuja, warned that should the minister fail to resign, it would head for the court to compel her to do so.
The Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority, NCAA, released a whopping N255 million to purchase two BMW armoured cars for Ms. Oduah, whose life, her media aide, Joe Obi, claimed was being threatened.
The ACN's Executive Secretary, Dino Melaye, said the group had already instructed its legal team to study the case with a view to instituting an action against the minister.
"If it were to be during (Olusegun) Obasanjo or (Umar) Yar'Adua's administration, the minister would have been fired. We are waiting to see what the President (Goodluck Jonathan) will do, as well as the National Assembly," he said.
Mr. Melaye, a former member of the House of Representatives, said the procurement of the two bullet proof cars under any guise, was an affront on university students who have been out of school for about four months due to the strike embarked upon by the Academic Staff Union of Universities, ASUU.
The Union, among other issues, is protesting the infrastructural decay in the nation's universities.
Mr. Melaye accused Ms. Oduah of being callous, inhuman and reprehensible.
The former lawmaker alleged that the vehicles could have been bought for the minister from the proceeds of Internally Generated Revenue, IGR, or the kick-back from the ongoing rehabilitation of the airports in the country.
"No ministry or agency is allowed to spend money not appropriated. The posers we have for the minister is, was the money for the purchase of the cars budgeted for by the National Assembly? Did the Bureau of Public Enterprise clear the purchase? Or did Stella Oduah obtain certificate of no objection? These are many more posers the honourable minister should provide answers to.
"However, in the absence of satisfactory answers, what can be deduced is that, it is either the NCAA, alleged to have procured the cars, hoodwinked the public by under declaring its Internally Generated Revenue to raise the money, or the minister purchased it from the proceeds of the kick-back from the renovation of the country's airports."
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