Re-Hyat: Hovering dangerously
The Minister of State
Air Transport, Hon.
Felix Hassan Hyat has noted with dismay your editorial of Monday, April 28, 2008 published on page 9 in which you said he was hovering dangerously over the affairs of the aviation ministry.
Ordinarily, he would not have bothered to respond to your diatribe or mischievous insinuations because of his fervent belief as a thoroughbred grass-roots politician but he is compelled to seek a rejoinder or retraction from you because of the concern of his admirers, supporters and well wishers who are angry that a medium owned by the highly revered Awolowo dynasty could be used to cast aspersions on an innocent Nigerian.
The minister who has been inundated by several calls and advice from his lawyers as well as those who have attested to his competence over the years was further compelled to seek a retraction because of his belief that your medium was misled into the editorial.
It is too insulting and embarrassing to insinuate that a minister who has been in politics since 1990 and has at different times been a member of Kaduna State House of Assembly under the defunct SDP, four-time commissioner, Chief of Staff to former Governor Ahmed Makarfi as well as Secretary to Kaduna State Government under the Peoples Democratic Party since 1999 to date is not competent.
It is also highly disheartening that you even turned your editorial which was supposed to be the voice of your medium towards a greater society to an avenue for curses, abuses and insults to a level where you described Hon. Felix Hassan Hyat as “a dupe”.
While the approach of the minister which is hinged on collective responsibility and fear of God may not be palatable to you or those who sponsored the editorial, it however behoves on you to put the feelings of others as championed by the late sage Chief Obafemi Awolowo into consideration before acceding to the request of those who sponsored the editorial.
Be that as it may, we want to put it on record that, when the minister was briefed that the missing aircraft was found, he out of genuine concern and sympathy announced it to the nation, but when fresh information from the reported sites of the crashed plane revealed that there was no wreckage, the Honourable Minister promptly apologized to the Nigerian public for the wrong information.
The minister who shares the ideals of President Umaru Musa Yar’Adua for a good Nigeria believes that a genuine and long lasting approach must be accorded the myriad of problems in the aviation industry rather than the previous cosmetic approach where the “baby is emotionally thrown away with the water.”
Afterall, Chief Obafemi Awolowo in his days likened problems to a plant that needs to be uprooted so it would not re-germinate.
On concessions, the minister has said it severally that any concessionaire arrangement that will not add value to the existing state of aviation infrastructure will not be tolerated in accordance with President Yar’Adua’s idea for a better Nigeria.
Edward Percy Masha,
Special Assistant to Hon.
Minister,
Federal Ministry of Transport.
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Oyo govt; help Odooba rainstorm victims
ON March 22, 2007,
a heavy downpour
accompanied by storm wrecked havoc in Odooba, Ogo Oluwa Local Government Area of Oyo State, rendering many people homeless.
The community wrote a letter of appeal dated April 2nd, 2007, to the then local government chairman, with a further request that he should help extend their appeal to NEMA .
The chairman promised to send relief materials to the victims.
It is, however, disheartening that more than one year after no relief has been received by the victims. It is necessary to state that private and public buildings were affected by the storm. Roofs of houses, shops and schools were blown off. Food items like gaari, yam flour, palm oil, etc, were destroyed.
While we are still waiting to hear from Ogo Oluwa Local Government authorities, we beseech the Oyo State government under Governor Adebayo Alao -Akala to come to our aid because the rainy season is here and those rendered homeless by the storm have been living under the yoke of the scorching sun.
Adelani Olawuyi,
Obada (Odooba),
Oyo State.
Text messages
Stop castigating Oshiomhole
I want to emphatically condemn the ineffectual attempt to rubbish and ridicule the AC candidate for the the April 14, 2007 governorship election in Edo State. I disagree with the spurious impressions about the person of Comrade Adams Oshiomhole as stated in a publication titled “The Unmasked Oshiomhole” and published in the Nigerian Tribune of May 1, 2008. Adams Oshiomhole is an indomitable ,fearless crusader of international repute. He is a world acclaimed fighter for the actualisation of practical democracy, the attainment of social justice, equality, freedom and the uplift of the down trodden who have been brutalised by repressive measures of past regimes of the three tiers of government. I have developed an unfeigned delight for his unquenchable passion and total commitment to the emancipation of Nigerian workers. Comrades Kokori and Oshiomhole are the labour leaders Nigeria has ever produced since our struggle for survival as a nation.
Keneth Apuede, Ekwotso - Weppa, Agenebode.
Access Bank shares
I paid for 25000 units of Access Bank shares, 18750 units was allocated on the certificate. Up till now, the cost of the balance is yet to be paid.
Obelawo Mukaila Alani, P.O.Box 3037, Mapo, Ibadan.
NYSC, LAUTECH,Osun State help
DOTUN Ojewole is dying. With each passing day, the case of 25-year-old Dotun Ojewole (an Osun State indigene and Mechanical Engineering graduate, LAUTECH, Ogbomoso) and a serving corps member in Abia State in the 2007/2008 batch who was diagnosed as having a kidney ailment is worsening. He is presently under dialysis at OAUTH and needs N3.5 million for kidney transplant ,as the two kidneys are damaged. I hereby call on the NYSC Director General, LAUTECH authorities, Osun State government and all well meaning Nigerians to do something in time to save the life of this promising youth.
Abass Ibn Isiaq, LAUTECH, Ogbomoso.
On electricity tariff
The decision taken by President Yar’Adua and his cabinet to increase the amount of money to be paid on electricity in the country can be described as an unkind decison which must be rejected by Nigerians, because it does not augur well to pay excessively for what the masses are not enjoying.
Taiwo Sangotikun, Iseyin.
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