The Ethics Institute of Nigeria has petitioned the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) to kick disgraced former Minister of Aviation, Stella Oduah, out of the race for the Senate.
The petition, signed by Abubakar Balarabe, a Director of the Organisation, stressed that Ms. Oduah’s indictment by both the House of Representatives and the Presidential panel that probed the “Oduahgate” scandal constitute a constitutional, legal and moral impediment to her PDP candidature for the Upper House.
According to the petition (which was exclusively made available to SaharaReporters), the former Minister’s presence on any PDP platform will negatively affect the re-election bid of the President in view of her very negative public perception.
The petition cites the various official inquiries and indictments of Ms. Oduah, and underlined that the cumulative effect is that she is disqualified pursuant to the combined effect of Sections 66 (h) & 318 of the 1999 Constitution of Nigeria.
It also recalled the damaging allegations against Ms. Oduah, including her deception of the Senate during the process of her Ministerial confirmation.
“Please recall that Ms. Stella Oduah had in a resume she presented to the Senate as a ministerial nominee in 2011 indicated that she obtained a Master’s degree in Business Administration (MBA) from St. Paul’s College Lawrenceville, Virginia, United States. Investigations by vigilant Nigerian press indicated that this was untrue. Apart from the scandal, Ms. Oduah was also involved in a certificate forgery scandal. The former minister was alleged to have claimed in the resume she submitted to the Senate for her confirmation hearing that a university, which was later found to be non-existent, awarded her a phantom honorary doctorate degree.
“She also falsely claimed on the website of the Ministry of Aviation that she bagged a Masters degree from St. Paul College, Lawrenceville, Virginia, United States. However, checks at the institution revealed that it did not award her the degree as it does not run graduate programmes.”
The Institute argued that anyone with a background such as this is not a fit and proper person to be elected to the Senate or even be allowed to be associated with the President’s re-election process.
Documents submitted in support of the petition include the report of the Presidential Panel, and a copy of the resume submitted by Ms. Oduah to the Senate for the Ministerial confirmation hearing.