Former minister of Aviation, Stella Oduah appears to be in the eye of the storm as the federal government of Nigeria has filed an eight-count charge against her at a Federal High Court in Abuja for falsely claiming she completed the mandatory one-year national service but lost her certificate, among other allegations.
The lawsuit comes about 13 months after the National Youth Service Corp (NYSC) claimed that the former Anambra North senator did not complete the mandatory one-year programme.
The charge was filed on June 26, 2023, according to court documents made available to Channels Television on Monday.
One of the counts read, “That you SENATOR STELLA ODUAH AND D.A.O OSHINOWO (at large) sometime in 2017, at Federal Capital Territory, Abuja. Within the jurisdiction of this Honourable Court, did conspire amongst yourselves to commit felony to wit: make a document titled ‘Re: Request for National Youth Service Confirmation Which you knew to be false and thereby committed an offence contrary to section 3(6) of the miscellaneous offences Act CAF M17 of the revised edition (Laws of the Federation of Nigeria) 2007 and Punishable under section 3 (1) (c) of the same Act.”
Recall that the Director-General of the NYSC through a letter which was signed on his behalf by the Director, Press and Public Relations, Eddy Megwa, disclosed that Oduah commenced her NYSC programme in 1982 but absconded.
In June 2023, a Federal High Court sitting in Abuja, dismissed a suit filed against Senator Stella Oduah seeking an order invalidating her nomination as the Senatorial Candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in Anambra state due to false claims on her NYSC certificate
