Oduah Stella Adaeze is a Nigerian politician who contested the 2023 Nigerian Senate Elections as the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) candidate in Anambra.

Biography

Stella Oduah Ogiemwonyi (born 5 January 1962) is a Nigerian politician who served as Minister of Aviation from July 2, 2011, to February 12, 2014, and as a Senator from the Anambra North Senatorial District. She was also the Director of Administration and Finance during the political campaign of President Goodluck Jonathan. Oduah was a delegate for Nigeria at the papal inauguration of Pope Francis in 2013 alongside President of the Senate, David Mark, and Viola Onwuliri. She has been involved in controversies, including allegations of inflation of BMW cars and disputes regarding her education and degree.

In 2015, she was elected to the Nigerian Senate to represent the Anambra North Senatorial District. She was one of the seven women elected to the 8th Senate, alongside Rose Okoji Oko, Uche Ekwunife, Fatimat Raji Rasaki, Oluremi Tinubu, Abiodun Olujimi, and Binta Garba. Oduah was re-elected to a second term in the Senate in 2019. In 2022, she ran again under the All Progressives Congress (APC) but lost to the incumbent Senator Tony Nwoye.

Oduah was born to Igwe D.O. Oduah of Akili-Ozizor, Ogbaru Local Government Area (L.G.A.) in Anambra State on January 5, 1962. She received her bachelor’s and master’s degrees (in Accounting and Business Administration) in the United States. She returned to Nigeria in 1983 and joined the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC). In 1992, she left the NNPC to establish Sea Petroleum & Gas Company Limited (SPG), an independent marketer of petroleum products in Nigeria. She was married to the former Minister for Works, Engr. Chris Ogiemwonyi, and has children.

On February 9, 2014, the Economic and Financial Crime Commission (EFCC) indicted Stella Oduah and the Nigerian subsidiary of the Chinese Construction Giant CCECC for alleged fraudulent cash transactions amounting to about ₦5 billion over five months. On August 26, 2021, Oduah left the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) to join the All Progressives Congress (APC), citing a desire to change the political narrative in the South-East region.