US College Says It Did Not Award MBA To Stella Oduah As It Has No Masters Programme

Stella Oduah, Nigeria’s Minister of Aviation who is embroiled in a scandal of towering proportions in the ministry, faces new integrity questions as her Masters’ degree has been challenged by the United States school which supposedly awarded it.
Her resume, which she presented to the Senate as a ministerial nominee in 2011, indicated she obtained a Master's degree in Business Administration (MBA) from St. Paul’s College Lawrenceville, Virginia, United States.
But SaharaReporters has learned from the President of the college that it has never in its 125-year history had a graduate school or graduate program.
The Provost Vice President of Academic Affairs, and the Vice President of Institutional Development said in response to our inquiries, “We don’t offer any graduate programs here.”
Similarly, the school’s website states: “Saint Paul's College is accredited by the Commission of Colleges of the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools to award baccalaureate [bachelor’s] degrees.”  There is no mention of graduate degrees.

The Minister’s documentation shows she received an undergraduate degree in accounting from the college in 1982, but Dr. Claud Flythe, St. Paul’s current president, could neither confirm nor deny this during a phone conversation with SaharaReporters.  Further verification with the Office of Alumni Affairs is also currently impossible, the school said, because the college has been closed since June 2013 to loss of its accreditation.
“[Oduah] realized very early in life the indispensability of a sound education in her growth plans in life and therefore pursued her education with all diligence and sense of purpose,” her documents claimed, adding that a determination “to have the best education at the highest level” prompted her stay at the Virginia college in 1983 for the MBA programme.
As her public relations machinery marched on, in December 2012 The Sun newspaper published an article headlined “Stella Oduah: An Amazon of transformation,” which lauded her “MBA from St Paul’s College, Lawrenceville Virginia USA.”  The story also praised her for being an official who brought her “rich educational background to bear on the aviation sector by automating revenue centers in all the agencies and parastatals to boost their revenue profile and enhance transparency and accountability in the system.”
In October, SaharaReporters broke the story that Mrs. Oduah, a former campaign manager for President Goodluck Jonathan, purchased two bulletproof BMW cars worth $ 1.6 Million (N255m) through the Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority, for her own use.
Following an investigation, the House of Representatives Committee on Aviation dismissed the Minister’s pleas of innocence and all her rebuttals during her testimony.  The committee’s report, which was subsequently adopted by the House, declared that no budgetary appropriation had been made for the purchase of the cars, and that the NCAA proposal for their purchase was rejected.
President Jonathan also set up a three-member administrative panel to investigate the matter, but he immediately travelled out of the country with Mrs. Oduah and Colonel Dasuki, the National Security Adviser who was to serve as a member of the panel.  Not only did the panel submit its report much later than the two weeks it was given for the assignment, Mr. Jonathan has refused to release its report.
Mrs. Oduah’s new certificate questions are certain to feed into national concern about her credibility as an elected official, but also about Mr. Jonathan’s credibility, and about the nation’s security apparatus which verifies official documents offered to the Senate for official nominations.
If Mrs. Oduah deliberately deceived the Senate, it remains to be seen if the Upper House will be sufficiently motivated to take up the matter with the Executive.
Meanwhile, Nigeria’s aviation industry continues to face a massive challenge, with struggling airports and airlines, as well as financial and administrative pitfalls that hinder expansion and development.
 Source: Sahara reporters

Aviation Minister, Stella Oduah Scrambles To Cover Up Certificate Forgery Scandal

Embattled Minister of Aviation, Stella Oduah, and her associates have spent the last several hours scrambling to clean up the minister’s biographies on the Internet, following allegations that she lied about her academic qualifications, PREMIUM TIMES can report today.
News website, SaharaReporters, had Monday quoted authorities at St. Paul’s College, where Mrs. Oduah claimed she studied for Bachelor and Masters degrees, as saying they did not award her an MBA at anytime as the university does not  even have a graduate school or graduate programme.
The minister is yet to respond to the allegations. Efforts by PREMIUM TIMES to get her to comment for this story were unsuccessful.
Joe Obi, her special assistant on media, did not answer or return calls.
Yakubu Datti, the spokesperson of the aviation agencies, who usually speak for her, said he was not aware of the allegation against the minister, and that he would revert after consulting the minister. He is yet to do so as at the time of publishing this.
However, this  newspaper has observed an attempt by the minister and her aides to revise her profiles on the web with a view to cleaning up any reference to St. Paul’s College in her history.
Already, Mrs. Oduah’s biography on the website of the Ministry of Aviation has been revised, with references to St. Paul’s College now wiped out.

Oduah new bio

Oduah-Ogiemwonyi received her Bachelors and Masters Degree (in Accounting and Business Administration respectively) in the United States,” the new profile said of Mrs. Oduah’s education, without any reference to the university she attended.
The Wikipedia page of the minister has also been hurriedly edited, and it now has no reference to the university Mrs. Oduah attended.
All links and reference materials on the Wikipedia page capable of linking the minister to the university that has disowned her have also been deleted.
Even the minister’s personal website  has been reviewed to remove any reference to St. Paul’s College.
While the links leading to Mrs. Oduah’s foundation and photographs remain active, the other principal link, which should lead to her history page, has been deactivated.
It’s unclear whether it was being edited at the backend when PREMIUM TIMES visited the site.
Mrs. Oduah had in a resume she presented to the Senate as a ministerial nominee in 2011 indicated that she obtained a Master’s degree in Business Administration (MBA) from St. Paul’s College Lawrenceville, Virginia, United States.

Stella Oduah’s new Wikipedia page without a university
But SaharaReporters quoted the President of the college as saying his university had never in its 125-year history had a graduate school or graduate program.
The Provost Vice President of Academic Affairs, and the Vice President of Institutional Development said in response to the website’s inquiries, “We don’t offer any graduate programs here.”
The school’s website also indicates clearly that Saint Paul’s College awards only baccalaureate [bachelor’s] degrees.
It is not clear yet whether the minister received an undergraduate degree from the college as she claimed.  SaharaReporters said Dr. Claud Flythe, the college’s current president was unable to confirm that claim because the college had been closed since June 2013 after it lost accreditation.
Mrs. Oduah had since October being enmeshed in a a N255million armoured cars scandal in which she was accused of compelling an agency under her supervision, the Nigeria Civil Aviation Authority, NCAA, to buy her two exotic bullet cars at clearly inflated prices.
The purchase of the cars generated outrage for weeks because its cost was inflated, and it was neither listed in the government-approved budget nor did it comply with the Nigeria’s public procurement law.
The House of Representatives has since asked President Goodluck Jonathan to sack the minister but the president has failed to act.

Source: PREMIUM TIMES

Ekiti’s one-day acting governor dies

The former Speaker of the Ekiti State House of Assembly, Chief Friday Aderemi, is dead.
He was 74 years.
The deceased ruled the state for one day as acting governor after Ayodele Fayose was removed from office in October 2006.
Aderemi, a native of Ayetoro-Ekiti and chieftain of the All Progressives Congress (APC), died at the state University Teaching Hospital, Ado-Ekiti, on Tuesday after a brief illness.
He was elected in 2003 to represent Ido/Osi Constituency 2 at the Ekiti State House of Assembly.
Late Aderemi was a Senior Special Assistant to Governor Kayode Fayemi and played prominent roles during struggles to reclaim the governor’s mandate from Dr. Segun Oni.
He became the Speaker of the state House of Assembly  after the impeachment of his predecessor, Hon. Sola Ajigbolamu, in 2004.

Nollywood Actress Chika Ike,Living Big like a Queen that she is

 2014 seems to be starting well for Nollywood actress Chika Ike as she has been living the life of a queen in Abu Dhabi UAE where she is currently spending her holiday. Of recent she got herself over a million naira worth of hand bags and its being reported that she is lodged in emirate palace hotel which is the most expensive hotel in the world. A room there ranges between $5,000 to $ 17,000 per night depending on the suite.

Beverly Osu's send New Year Message to Fans and Haters

Beverly Osu, one of Nigeria’s representative at the last Big brother, she took to her instagram yesterday to send a new year message to everyone ; here is what she said;

Dear Friends of Beverly Osu:

As I look back and reflect on 2013, I would like to take this opportunity to personally thank you, our loyal fans, for your support of Beverly Osu during the past year. Whether it was through financial means, words of encouragement, volunteerism, critics or prayer.

This past year I’ve gotten the platform to use emerging media to entertain, inform and inspire the people of Africa. My vision still holds true today.

I am a young lady ahead of time.

Thanks to everyone who has touched my incredible life.

To my lovers: I will never disappoint. You’ve encouraged me and made me strong to keep moving #kisses.

To my Haters: thanks for making my life in 2013 something to reflect on ..(silence is golden but a duct tape is silver) …

You guys have been my entertainment

TOOLZ Advise To Ladies - Don't Depend on Guys

 Sixty percent of ladies depend on their lovers for financial needs, some even say it is there right, while some base it on a give and take affair; not many Guys like women bugging them with financial needs, but many women do not know this fact.

Popular Curvy and Pretty OAP Toolz took to her twitter handle to advice ladies on this issues and I hope ladies would read and digest this

Woman dies in Niger governor’s office

Havoc struck today when a 46 year old woman, identified as Hajiya Belkisu Mahmoud suddenly slumped and died in the office of the Niger state governor, Dr. Mu’azu Babangida Aliyu.
It was gathered that the woman a mother of three had waited several hours to see the governor but was denied access to see the governor who was said to have a lot of files to treat due to the New Year break but shortly after she was ushered into the governor’s office that she slump.
Source in the governor’s office who spoke in confidence said the woman who was suspected to be asthmatic was immediately rushed to the Minna General Hospital where Doctor confirmed her dead.
Our source said that the woman who was on a private visit  was delayed in the waiting hall because her name was not on the approved protocol list of those to see the governor, but being a former staff officer (SO) in the Deputy Governor’s office.
There is no official statement from the government as at the time of filing this report but the governor was said to have hurriedly left office after the incident.
Doctors at the Minna General Hospital also refused to comment on the incident as they all kept sealed lips and avoided efforts to get them to comment.