Nigerian government drags former Aviation minister Stella Oduah to court over forging documents and others
Stella Oduah, a former minister of aviation in Nigeria, is facing an eight-count prosecution at a Federal High Court in Abuja for allegedly fabricating the loss of her National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) certificate, among other things.
The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC)’s Legal and Prosecution Department’s Ochugwo Ogbeh and Ibrahim Mohammed signed the charges when they were submitted on June 26, 2023.
According to the accusation, Senator Oduah and a man named D.A.O. Oshinowo (who is still at large) planned to commit a felony by creating a document titled “Re: Request for National Youth Service Confirmation” at some point in 2017.
Oduah was additionally charged with submitting her credentials to the federal government in 2011 along with an affidavit and an excerpt from a police diary claiming that she had misplaced her NYSC certificate, which resulted in her appointment as a cabinet minister and election to the Senate for the Anambra North Senatorial District.
She allegedly earned a total amount in pay and benefits while serving as a Senator and Minister for the Federal Republic of Nigeria by pretending to be competent, according to the prosecution.
The offenses violate sections 156 of the Penal Code Act, which is punishable under section 158 of the same Act, 3(6) of the Miscellaneous Offenses Act (CAP M17), 1(1)(a) of the Advanced Fee Fraud and Other Related Offenses Act of 2006, and other related statutes.
John Emeka, a senatorial candidate from Anambra State, sued Oduah at the Federal High Court in Abuja last year to have her designation as the Peoples Democratic Party’s senate candidate in Anambra State revoked.
Emeka requested that the court rule that Oduah provided false information on her INEC Form CF001 regarding her involvement in the National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) program in the original summons.
In both her expression of interest and nomination papers, including the INEC Form CF001 that she filed to the commission for the 2023 Anambra North Senatorial District seat, he claimed that the former minister lied under oath.
The candidate claimed that she had used the same information to run as the PDP’s candidate in the 2015 and 2019 elections for the Anambra North Senatorial District under oath.
He said that the act was against the NYSC Act’s Sections 12(1)(a)(b)(c) and 13(1)(a).
He further requested that the court rule that she was ineligible to have run in the aforementioned elections and/or any other election to the Nigerian Senate as a result of the false information she provided on her INEC Form CF 001 regarding her participation in the NYSC Scheme.
However, the court dismissed the lawsuit because to status barring in a decision handed down by Justice Inyang Ekwo on November 22, 2022.
