Stella Oduah responds to claims she did not complete her NYSC by sharing a photo from NECA proving she did.
Stella Oduah, former Minister of Aviation and Anambra North Senator, has responded to allegations that she did not complete her service year.
As previously reported, this was communicated in a letter that acted as a response to a request made by Concerned Anambra North Peoples Democratic Party Stakeholders. The senator’s claim that she misplaced her NYSC certificate had been verified by the group.
According to the investigation, Oduah was mobilized for national service in the 1982/83 service year and was deployed to Lagos State, but she skipped the orientation and never finished the service.
Stella Oduah responds to allegations that she did not complete her service year by sharing a photo of herself in NYSC uniform as well as a document from NECA certifying that she did.
“She worked meritoriously at NECA in 1982, as can be proven by this 11th January, 2017 clarification from the Nigeria Employers’ Consultative Association personally signed by the Director General, O.A Oshinowo,” her media aide Ezennia Nonso Chukwudebe said in a statement.
Oduah, who accused her opponents of “resorting to circulating a story that is completely at odds with the position of the agency where she did her primary assignment,” said they will give “NYSC time to put out a disclaimer as we firmly believe this letter to be fake.”
The statement was as follows:
*RE: THE NYSC ABANDONMENT STORY OF ALLEGED SENATOR STELLA ODUAH*
Our attention has recently been directed to a publication that claims that Princess Stella Adaeze Oduah OON, the Distinguished Senator representing Anambra North, has absconded from the National Youth Service Corps programme.
Normally, we would never respond to such antics with a statement, but we felt compelled to do so for the benefit of gullible minds who are being targeted by political operatives whose stock in trade is churning out such nonsense every election cycle, especially when it is becoming clear that they are getting the short end of the political stick.
This 11th January, 2017 clarification from the Nigeria Employers’ Consultative Association, personally signed by the Director General, O.A Oshinowo, confirms the Distinguished Senator’s distinguished service at NECA in 1982.
How her opponents have suddenly resorted to circulating this story, which is completely at odds with the position of the agency where she did her primary assignment, is an issue that every keen mind should focus on, and we are by publishing this letter, giving the NYSC time to issue a disclaimer as we firmly believe this letter to be a forgery.
Unfortunately, we live in a world where such unverified information spreads quickly, and it’s even more concerning that certain mainstream media sites appear to be dragged into the viral vortex of deception.
Senator Stella Oduah not only served her country well, but she also went on to work for the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC), a federal government agency, for the following nine years!
Nigerians must understand that the people behind the fake letter currently circulating are desperate, despondent, and at their wits’ end, because they instinctively recognise that the Honorable Senator is one leader who continues to be appreciated and loved for her many people-oriented programmes, and no amount of sponsored media mudslinging can change that.
This is election season, so expect such stunts from weak translators who have no grasp of politics and are participating in stupid trickery against aspirants who are rightfully perceived as powerful.
Unfortunately for them, they are employing the same failing method that has never succeeded in defeating the Honorable Senator at the polls, and one would expect them to rethink their plan.
Senator Stella Oduah is still going strong, in good spirits, and looking forward to the election.
