Oduahgate: Lagos denies requesting for N255m BMW cars

Oduahgate: Lagos denies requesting for
N255m BMW cars
on november 01, 2013 at 7:00 am in news
The controversy over the N255 million BMW bullet
proof cars yesterday took a new turn when the
Lagos State Government denied requesting for the
vehicles, saying “it didn’t use such cars during the
18th National Sports Festival hosted in 2012.”
But the state government also maintained that it
only requested for regular saloon cars, four wheel
drive vehicles and buses, which it got from
Coscharis in its capacity as the official vehicle
providers for the sports.
The denial came in following amid public outcry and
condemnation trailing the role the state government
in the purchase of two armoured cars by the
Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA) for the
Minister of Aviation, Princess Stella Oduah.
A source close to the Commissioner for Youths,
Sports and Social Development, Mr. Enitan Oshodi
said that the state government duly made a request
to President Goodluck Jonathan.
He explained that “the state government requested
for waiver of destination inspection charges and
duty exemption on 300 vehicles, which were to be
used for the festival.”
According to the source, “Following the offer of
sponsorship of and provision of vehicles for the
festival by Coscharis Nigeria Limited, the state
government made a formal request to the president
as requested by the sponsors, which was granted.
The source said “The request was duly granted by
the president to the issuance of a Certificate of
Waiver in respect of the duty payable on the
importation of the cars by Coscharis Nigeria
Limited,”
The source further explained that the state
government have documents to show the vehicles
were supplied and used during the 18th National
Sports Festival.
According to the source, the vehicles requested
from Coscharis Nigeria Limited, which was the
sponsor of the festival, were limited to saloon cars,
four wheel drive vehicles and buses to convey the
14,000 athletes and 10,000 officials who attended
the festival across the country.
He noted that the state government did not request
for any bulletproof vehicle BMW Level 7 or any
other bulletproof vehicle for use during the festival
hosted between November 27 and December 9,
2012.