Princess Princess is a regal rank and the feminine equivalent of prince (from Latin '' princeps'', meaning principal citizen). Most often, the term has been used for the consort of a prince, or for the daughter of a king or prince. Princess as a subs ...

Stella Oduah Ogiemwonyi (

née A birth name is the name of a person given upon birth. The term may be applied to the surname, the given name, or the entire name. Where births are required to be officially registered, the entire name entered onto a birth certificate or birth re ...

Oduah; born 5 January 1962), is a

Nigerian Nigerians or the Nigerian people are citizens of Nigeria or people with ancestry from Nigeria. The name Nigeria was taken from the Niger River running through the country. This name was allegedly coined in the late 19th century by British jo ...

Senator and former Minister of Aviation. She was confirmed to the ministerial post and sworn in on July 2, 2011 and was deployed to the Ministry of

Aviation Aviation includes the activities surrounding mechanical flight and the aircraft industry. ''Aircraft'' includes airplane, fixed-wing and helicopter, rotary-wing types, morphable wings, wing-less lifting bodies, as well as aerostat, lighter- ...

on July 4, 2011. She was however relieved of her duties as Minister of Aviation on 12 February 2014. She was also active in the political campaign of former President

Goodluck Jonathan Goodluck Ebele Azikiwe Jonathan (born 20 November 1957)Lawson Heyford, ''The Source'' (Lagos), 11 December 2006. is a Nigerian politician who served as the President of Nigeria from 2010 to 2015. He lost the 2015 presidential election to fo ...

, where she served as his campaign's Director of Administration and Finance. In 2013, she was one of the delegates chosen by the President to attend the

Papal inauguration of Pope Francis The papal inauguration of Pope Francis was held on 19 March 2013 in St. Peter's Square in the Vatican. Holy Mass was celebrated by Pope Francis before political and religious leaders from around the world. The crowd was estimated between 150,000 ...

together with David Mark, President of the Senate and

Viola Onwuliri Viola Adaku Onwuliri (born 18 June 1956) is a university professor of Biochemistry and politician who served as Nigeria's Foreign Minister. Life Viola Onwuliri is the first daughter of the Royal Family of His Highness Eze Cletus and Ugoeze Do ...

, Foreign Minister. On 23 February 2017
Punch Newspaper
reported her four companies accounts frozen over alleged indebtedness of $16,412,819.06 and N100,493,225.59 by the Federal high court in Lagos. The four companies are Sea Petroleum and Gas Company Limited, Sea Shipping Agency Limited, Rotary Engineering Services Limited, and Tour Afrique Company Limited with 21 bank accounts. She has been involved in numerous controversies ranging from highly inflated purchase of BMW bullet-proof cars without following due process as well as allegations that Stella Oduah-Ogiemwonyi purportedly lied about how she obtained an MBA degree from St Paul's College. However, the News website, SaharaReporters, had on Jan 6th 2014 quoted authorities at St. Paul's College, where Mrs. Oduah claimed she studied for bachelor's and master's degrees, as saying they did not award her an MBA at any time as the university does not even have a graduate school or graduate programme. She said she will use her second term in the office to curb drug abuse and eradicate cancer.

Senate career

In 2015, she was elected to the Nigerian Senate to represent

Anambra North Senatorial District Anambra North Senatorial District in Anambra State covers seven local government areas which include Onitsha North, Onitsha South, Oyi, Ogbaru, Anambra East, Anambra West and Ayamelum. There are 1,392 Polling Units (Pus) and 99 Registration ...

. She was one of the only seven women elected to the 8th. The others were

Rose Okoji Oko Rose Okoji Oko (27 September 1956 – 23 March 2020) was a Nigerian politician and senator. She was a Member of the Federal House of Representatives from the People's Democratic Party (PDP), representing Yala/Ogoja Federal Constituency in ...

Uche Ekwunife Uche Lilian Ekwunife (née Ogudebe born 12 January 1970), is a Nigerian politician, and member of the 9th Nigerian Senate representing the people of Anambra Central Senatorial District of Anambra State and she is known as one of the most active f ...

Fatimat Raji Rasaki Fatimat Olufunke Raji-Rasaki (born 1 January 1957) is a Nigerian politician, senator and former first lady of Ogun, Ondo and Lagos states between 1986 and 1991. Early life and education Raji-Rasaki was born in Ekiti State on 1 January 1957.

Oluremi Tinubu Oluremi Tinubu (born 21 September 1960) is a Nigerian politician who served as the first lady of Lagos State from 1999 to 2007 and is currently a senator representing Lagos Central Senatorial District at the Nigerian National Assembly. She is a ...

Abiodun Olujimi Biodun Christine Olujimi (born 25 December 1958) is a Nigerian politician. She is a senator of the Federal Republic Nigeria representing Ekiti South constituency and minority leader of the Nigerian Senate. She was a board member of Nigerian Com ...

and

Binta Garba Binta Masi Garba (born 17 April 1967) is a Nigerian politician, businesswoman and administrator, serving as the Senator of Adamawa North Senatorial District of Adamawa State since 2015. She served as Chairperson, Adamawa State chapter of All Pr ...

.The 6 female senators in 8th National Assembly
Naij,com, Retrieved 15 February 2016 Oduah was re-elected to a second term in the Senate in 2019.

Background

Oduah was born to Igwe D.O. Oduah of Akili-Ozizor,

Ogbaru Ogbaru is a local government area in Anambra State, south-central Nigeria. The area's local government headquarters is in the port city of Atani. History Ogbaru people are farmers as well as known warriors from its history; the Ogbaru people s ...

L.G.A. in

Anambra State Anambra State is a Nigerian state, located in the southeastern region of the country. The state was created on August 27, 1991. Anambra state is bounded by Delta State to the west, Imo State to the south, Enugu State to the east and Kogi St ...

on January 5, 1962. Oduah-Ogiemwonyi received her

bachelor's A bachelor's degree (from Middle Latin ''baccalaureus'') or baccalaureate (from Modern Latin ''baccalaureatus'') is an undergraduate academic degree awarded by colleges and universities upon completion of a course of study lasting three to si ...

and

master's degree A master's degree (from Latin ) is an academic degree awarded by universities or colleges upon completion of a course of study demonstrating mastery or a high-order overview of a specific field of study or area of professional practice.

(in

Accounting Accounting, also known as accountancy, is the measurement, processing, and communication of financial and non financial information about economic entities such as businesses and corporations. Accounting, which has been called the "languag ...

and

Business Administration Business administration, also known as business management, is the administration of a commercial enterprise. It includes all aspects of overseeing and supervising the business operations of an organization. From the point of view of management ...

respectively) in the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country Continental United States, primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 U.S. state, states, a Washington, D.C., ...

. She returned to Nigeria in 1983 and she joined the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation.http://www.neighbours4goodluck.org/1/Princess%20Stella%20Oduah%20Ogiemwonyi%20OON.html In 1992, she left the

NNPC NNPC Limited is a for profit oil company in Nigeria. Formerly a government-owned corporation, it was transformed from a corporation to a limited liability company in July 2022. NNPC Limited is the only entity licensed to operate in the country' ...

to establish the Sea Petroleum & Gas Company Limited (SPG), an independent marketer of

petroleum Petroleum, also known as crude oil, or simply oil, is a naturally occurring yellowish-black liquid mixture of mainly hydrocarbons, and is found in geological formations. The name ''petroleum'' covers both naturally occurring unprocessed crud ...

products in

Nigeria Nigeria ( ), , ig, Naìjíríyà, yo, Nàìjíríà, pcm, Naijá , ff, Naajeeriya, kcg, Naijeriya officially the Federal Republic of Nigeria, is a country in West Africa. It is situated between the Sahel to the north and the Gulf o ...

. She was married to the former Minister for Works, Engr. Chris Ogiemwonyi and has children.

Politics

On February 9
The Economic and Financial Crime Commission (EFCC)
indicted Stella Oduah, and the Nigerian Subsidiary of Chinese Construction Giant, CCECC, in allege fraudulent

cash In economics, cash is money in the physical form of currency, such as banknotes and coins. In bookkeeping and financial accounting, cash is current assets comprising currency or currency equivalents that can be accessed immediately or near-im ...

transaction of about N5billion over five months in 2014. On 26 August 2021, Stella Oduah left

People's Democratic Party People's Democratic Party or ''variant thereof'', could refer to: * People's Democratic Party of Afghanistan *People's Democratic Party (Belize) *People's Democratic Party (Bhutan) * People's Democratic Party (Chile) *People's Democratic Party (Dom ...

to join the

All Progressives Congress The All Progressives Congress (APC) is one of the two major contemporary political parties in Nigeria, along with the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP). Founded on 6 February 2013 from a merger of Nigeria's three largest opposition parties, the ...

. When asked, She said she joined the ruling party because she wants to change the “political narrative” in the

South-East The points of the compass are a set of horizontal, radially arrayed compass directions (or azimuths) used in navigation and cartography. A compass rose is primarily composed of four cardinal directions—north, east, south, and west—each s ...

region of the country.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Oduah-Ogiemwonyi, Stella 1962 births Women members of the Senate (Nigeria) Aviation ministers of Nigeria Living people 21st-century Nigerian women politicians 21st-century Nigerian politicians Members of the Senate (Nigeria) Igbo politicians Women government ministers of Nigeria All Progressives Congress politicians