THE STELLA ODUAH CERTIFICATE SAGA January 24, 2014 By Omololu Ojehomon-Ogbeni A few weeks are now behind us regarding the hula balu of Oduah’s certificate scandal. On one side of the debate are those who are clamouring with all sorts of ideas to give Oduah negative publicity on the other side of the debate some have risen concerning certificate scandals in the recent years, and yet another group that is addressing the concerns of the law enforcement officials who are charged with the responsibility to screen the certificates. This writer is only concerned with the third part of the debate. To understand what transpired we need to know how the screening was done. Which agency is responsible for clearing candidates and to what extent they verified documents submitted to them for clearance. Was it the political party or the law enforcement agency responsible for this screening or clearance before it got to the senate? It is generally accepted that political parties are not equipped to properly investigate and require the services of the police or other investigative agencies to detect fraud, criminality or clear as the case may be. Since the responsibility of investigation and detection of crime squarely falls on the precincts of the Nigerian Police, it now remains to be seen the way and manner the investigation was done. From all accounts and totality of circumstances surrounding Oduah’s certificate saga the police cannot be shielded or entirely gone unheard. This is a clear case of Negligence screening in that the police failed to conduct a screening exercise or at best a case of improper screening. We cannot APROBATE and REPROBATE, as many of my attorney friends say. Criminal Justice postulates that if there is a government error, the government must make amends in favour of the accused, in this case Stella Oduah. She should return to office immediately and continue to perform as the Minister for aviation. What is the statute of limitation when it comes to screening of candidates, it cannot be the life of the appointee. There must be a duration when such matters are discussed. In other words investigation can continue and conclude at 3 months or 6 months, but never for the life of the appointee. Stella Oduah produced a document to the senate which she defended in the presence of 109 Nigerian senators to their satisfaction and was cleared. Now whether the Senators are themselves educated enough to handle such cases of clearance is another matter for another day.
Posted on: Sat, 25 Jan 2014 04:41:47 +0000
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