January 9, 2014 by Ade Adesomoju and Temitayo Famutimi 519 Comments

Culled from The PUNCH

Chairman, Ikeja branch of the Nigerian Bar Association, Mr. Onyekachi Ubani, and the Coalition Against Corrupt Leaders, said on Wednesday that Ms Stella Oduah, who is embroiled in a fresh certificate scandal, was no longer fit as the nation’s Minister of Aviation.

CACOL’s Executive Chairman, Mr. Debo Adeniran, said in a telephone interview that the scandal was a proof that Oduah was engrossed in primitive accumulation.

An online news media, Sahara Reporters had reported that claim in Oduah’s profile on the Federal Ministry of Aviation’s website that she obtained a Master’s degree in Business Administration from St. Paul’s College in Lawrenceville, Virginia in 1982, had been found to be false.

Authorities at the Saint Paul’s College, Virginia, United States, have said that they are unable to confirm if indeed Oduah, bagged a first degree in Accounting from the institution.

The President of the institution, Pete Stith, confirmed to one of our correspondents on the telephone on Tuesday that the college had not at any time offered any graduate programme of any kind.

Stith said the school had stopped all academic programmes mid last year, adding that the campus would be shut down in 30 days’ time.

He said the private college founded in 1888 was closing down due to “financial reasons.”

“No, we do not have any graduate programmes at all,” Stith said.

When asked to ascertain if Oduah holds a Bachelor’s degree of the college he said, “I can’t validate anything like that because I just came to close the school down. I’m here to close the campus down; we are closing the school in 30 days. Academic programmes have since stopped.”

Since the news broke that she did not obtain a MBA degree from the college, several attempts had been made to edit her resume and profile on different online platforms.

On Wikipedia for instance, her page was edited 19 times between 1.56pm and 5:05pm on Tuesday. Previous calls for her removal when the Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority allegedly bought two bulletproof cars for her at N255m had been ignored by President Goodluck Jonathan.

Ubani said on Wednesday that with the latest scandal there should be no reason to retain the woman as a minister.

He said, “It is becoming very embarrassing. When the news broke out, I was concerned about whether thorough investigation was done before the story was published. But when by the second day the woman started deleting the records online, I knew something was in the offing.

“This was the same woman who broke extant laws in buying bulletproof cars far above the allowed limits, I think something has to be done now. It is even the right time for the woman to speak out.

“If such a person that lies about her certificate can spend additional second in office, it shows how badly we have descended as a nation.”

On his part, Adeniran said, “It is an eye opener to the fact that the woman is engrossed in primitive accumulation. If she had been properly educated she would not have engaged in prebendal  politics with which she curried the favour of President Jonathan.

“It also shows how merit and technical competence have been sacrificed in appointing public officers.”