By Gideon Njoku
A one-time Aviation Minister, and Senator representing Anambra North, Senator Stella Adaeze Oduah is in trouble.
She has been caught in an alleged forgery. The National Youth Service Corp, NYSC, says Senator Oduah forged her NYSC Certificate.
In response to a letter written to the Director General of the NYSC to confirm her status, by a group, Concerned Anambra Peoples Democratic Party Stakeholders, which sought to confirm her claim that she lost her NYSC certificate, the NYSC said she did not complete her service year.
It said Senator Oduah was mobilized to serve in the year 1982, but that she absconded. Meaning that she is guilty of perjury as it relates to her documents submitted to INEC which qualified to run as a Senator, and the one she submitted which qualified her to be appointed as a Minister.
In an earlier letter, the group had accused some NYSC officials of colluding with Senator Oduah in order to protect her.
But in a response titled, ‘Re: Doubtful NYSC Participation Collusion of Some Unscrupulous Staff of NYSC Concerning Stella Adaeze Oduah (Senator), Save the Image and Reputation of the Scheme’, the NYSC denied it colluded with the Senator to hide the truth.
In a letter signed by its Spokesperson, Mr Megwa, the NYSC said:
“In response to your request, we wish to state that the facts of the matter remain as follows:
“Stella Adaeze Oduah was mobilised for national service in 1982/1983 service year and deployed to Lagos State.
“After the Orientation course, she absconded and never completed the national service.
“The consequence of this is that she is not qualified for the issuance of the certificate of national service.”
Punch reports that :Section 2 (1) of the NYSC Act makes it obligatory for every Nigerian who graduates to “ make himself available for service for a continuous period of one year from the date specified in the call-up instrument served upon him.
“According to the NYSC Act, the four categories of individuals exempted from the national service are those who graduated above the age of 30, those who have served in the Armed Forces or the Nigeria Police for a period of more than nine months; those who served in intelligence organisations and individuals who bagged national honours before graduation.”
It is not known how her situation failed to be noticed by security agencies which screened her as a ministerial nominee.
In her form CF001 to the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, in 2019, Oduah claimed her NYSC certificate was missing in addition with other credentials.
In an affidavit she deposed: “Sometime in 2010 while in transit from Akili Ozizor in Ogbaru local government area to Abuja, I discovered that some of my personal belongings were missing.
“The missing documents are the originals of my West African School Certificate of 1978 from Zixon Secondary School Ozubulu, First School Leaving Certificate from St. John Odoakpu Onitsha; Bachelor of Science in Business Administration Certificate 1982 from St. Paul’s College Lawrence Virginia USA; National Youth Service Corps certificate 1983, national identity card, United States of America Social Security card with numbers in it.”
