US Education Department, California-based University Confirm Stella Oduah’s Honorary Ph.D Is Fake - PREMIUM TIMES



The American National Centre for Education Statistics has told PREMIUM TIMES that the Pacific Christian University, Glendale, which Aviation Minister, Stella Oduah, claimed awarded her a doctorate degree, does not exist, confirming this newspaper’s Wednesday’s report that the minister’s purported honorary Ph.D is fake.

The National Centre for Education Statistics is an agency under the U.S. Department of Education.

Responding to a PREMIUM TIMES’ inquiry, the spokesperson for the agency, which maintains a comprehensive and up-to-date database of all American public and private educational institutions, said, “Thank you for your inquiry. I do not see a university in our database that is Pacific Christian University in Glendale”.

She however suggested that the closest to Pacific Christian University in the database might be Hope International University in Fullerton which she believed used to be known as Pacific Christian College.

Contacted, Every Delarosa of the registrar’s office at Hope International University confirmed that the institution used to be known as Pacific Christian College and not Pacific Christian University as Mrs. Oduah indicated in her resume.

Even at that, Ms. Delarosa insisted Mrs. Oduah could not be referring to Hope University because the institution changed its name from Pacific Christian College in 1997 while Mrs Oduah claimed she was awarded a doctorate in Business Administration 1998.

The Hope University official also explained that the institution, even when it was known as Pacific Christian College, had never had a campus in Glendale. She said the university was based in Long Beach city at the time.

“We do not have any records of any candidate by the name Stella Oduah or related names,” Ms. Delarosa said, after pouring through the university record. “Whether now that we are Hope University and in the past when we were Pacific Christian College, we did not give any such person a degree here.”

This newspaper had Wednesday reported that the aviation minister lied on oath to the Nigerian Senate, by claiming that a Pacific Christian University awarded her an honorary doctorate degree in 1998.

Mrs. Oduah had made the claim in a 7-page resume she distributed to Nigeria’s 109 senators during her confirmation hearing on July 2, 2011.

On page four of the document, the minister claimed the university, which she said was based in Glendale, awarded her an honorary doctorate in Business Administration.
Download the resume Minister Stella Oduah submitted to the senate here.
http://media.premiumtimesng.com/dev/wp-content/files/2014/01/Princess-Stella-Oduah-CV-.pdf

It was based on this document that she was grilled and eventually confirmed by the lawmakers.

But investigations by PREMIUM TIMES had determined Wednesday that no university called Pacific Christian University existed in the United States.

The U.S. Department of Education, through its National Centre for Education Statistics, keeps an up-to-date database of all public libraries and educational institutions in the country – public, private and colleges.

PREMIUM TIMES reporters spent hours on Wednesday searching this database.

Our reporters searched by state (California), city (Glendale) and name of institution (Pacific Christian University). Yet, nothing came up in the name of the university Mrs. Oduah claimed gave her an honorary doctorate.

According to the database, there are six colleges (universities) in Glendale, a city of 191,719 inhabitants in Los Angeles County, in the state of California.

The colleges are American Medical Sciences Centre, Brand College, Glendale Career College, Glendale Community and North-West College.

There is no such university known as Christian Pacific College as claimed by the minister.

Efforts by PREMIUM TIMES to get the spokespersons for the minister 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, answered our call but immediately said he would call back. He is yet to do so as at the time of publishing this.

Mrs. Oduah, and her associates have been cleaning up the minister’s biographies on the Internet, following allegations that she lied about her academic qualifications.

The minister claimed she got Bachelor and Masters degrees from St. Paul’s College.

But after it became clear she might not have earned a Masters from that university, Mrs. Oduah edited her biography on the website of the Ministry of Aviation, with references to St. Paul’s College removed.

The Wikipedia page of the minister was also edited and it now has no reference to the university Mrs. Oduah attended. The last edit on the Wikipedia page was done at 14:41 p.m. Nigerian time Tuesday.

All links and reference materials on the Wikipedia page capable of linking the minister to the university were also deleted.

Even the minister’s personal website was reviewed to remove any reference to St. Paul’s College.
Mrs. Oduah had since October been enmeshed in a a N255 million 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: http://saharareporters.com/news-page/us-education-department-california-based-university-confirm-stella-oduah’s-honorary-phd-fa

And some irresponsible crettins were here posting links from FACEBOOK where the senate refuted PT's/SR's claim! God pass all of una! Nigeria must be saved from demonic imposters such as Oduah whose B.Sc is even now in doubt!

Pls must we continue to witch hunt ppl. because we are jobless or what? I hav lost credibility for SP and PT they not rush to publish fake rumours. It wont help them.

On page four of the document, the minister claimed the university, which she said was based in Glendale, awarded her an honorary doctorate in Business Administration.
Download the resume Minister Stella Oduah submitted to the senate here.
http://media.premiumtimesng.com/dev/wp-content/files/2014/01/Princess-Stella-Oduah-CV-.pdf

Queendo: Pls must we continue to witch hunt ppl. because we are jobless or what? I hav lost credibility for SP and PT they not rush to publish fake rumours. It wont help them.

What you in particular need is not a job but education. Does what you just typed make ANY sense at all to you

Now this is getting messier by the day

Queendo: Pls must we continue to witch hunt ppl. because we are jobless or what? I hav lost credibility for SP and PT they not rush to publish fake rumours. It wont help them.

Females are believed to be relatively forthright,honest& better administrators dan males,but d nigerian brand who find themselves holding political/administrative offices& positions of trust seem 2av turned dis notion on its head.Instead of u to try to rebuild dat trust u are here supporting a clearly fraudulent individual;its shameful!

Stella Oduah is just a shameless thief.

Queendo: Pls must we continue to witch hunt ppl. because we are jobless or what? I hav lost credibility for SP and PT they not rush to publish fake rumours. It wont help them.

This continuous blabing about witch hunting can not settle this matter. what does it take for one to come out with their certificate they proudly own to dispel rumour and blackmail and even proceed with libel?

omenka: What you in particular need is not a job but education. Does what you just typed make ANY sense at all to you

must u insult ppl to make them agree wit ur point of view? From ur post i can guess ur level of education.

Queendo: must u insult ppl to make them agree wit ur point of view? From ur post i can guess ur level of education.

I gave an advice and asked a question. Where's the insult there?

Must i be insulted because we dont share d same point of view? How many ppl here can boast of being upright? Let such an individual be d first to cast d stone. All those on dis forum who are busy faulting others how pure and sincere are u? Those of u dt were told and answer to a question in d exam hall to those of u who got jobs or posting thru some kind of special connection are no better. I have no business wit Stella. What wil i gain in defending her.

igbo ppl and fakery . its in the dna now.

Queendo: Pls must we continue to witch hunt ppl. because we are jobless or what? I hav lost credibility for SP and PT they not rush to publish fake rumours. It wont help them.

just shut up if you have no meaningful contributions to make. The said newspapers must have made thorough investigations before publishing their findings. What do you even know?

Queendo: Must i be insulted because we dont share d same point of view? How many ppl here can boast of being upright? Let such an individual be d first to cast d stone. All those on dis forum who are busy faulting others how pure and sincere are u? Those of u dt were told and answer to a question in d exam hall to those of u who got jobs or posting thru some kind of special connection are no better. I have no business wit Stella. What wil i gain in defending her.

tell that to insincere 9gerian who says her atrocities should be overlooked just because Nigeria is not yet developed. It seems most of you have never heard of investigative journalism. SR and PT are simply doing what they should do. No one is witchhunting your dear princess. It could have been someone else from another tribe.

Nigerian politicians are men with huge insecurity problems. They think being in government will make them normal human beings with a normal self - confidence and self- worth, inherent in normal human beings. They forge certificates, steal our money, girlfriends, wives and husbands. They take all the titles and acquire every property one can think of, all in a bid to 'belong'.

Since the return of democracy in 1999, the list of certificate forgers, include;

1. Salisu Buhari

2. Bola Ahmed Tinubu

3. Stella Oduah (the latest entrant)