Introduction
Foster Ogola (born 1961 in Bayelsa State, Nigeria) is a Nigerian politician. He was the senator representing Bayelsa West senatorial district in the Nigerian Senate. He was among the senators of the 8th republic of the National Assembly in Nigeria.
Personal life and education
Ogola was born and raised in Bayelsa State, Nigeria. He attended Esenaeb College, Bomadi and in 1977, he obtained an IJMB certificate from the college. He then moved forward to Rivers State School of Basic Studies where he obtained a Grade II Certificate in 1979. In 2005, he enrolled into the Imo State University where he studied Christian Leadership and in 2008 obtained an MSc in Christian Leadership. In 2008, he obtained a Diploma in Satellite Technology from the United Nations Institute for Training and Research in Geneva.
In 2010, Ogola also obtained a BSc in Management from the Nigerian College of Administration.
Career
Foster Ogola started his career as a high school teacher in Delta State, Nigeria. Prior to the 2015 election he was Chairman of the Bayelsa State Scholarship Board. In 2015, Ogola ran for the position of the senate for Bayelsa West senatorial district and emerged as the winner under the People's Democratic Party. On June 9, 2015 he was sworn in as Senator representing Bayelsa West. He was subsequently appointed Vice Chairman of the ICT and Cybercrime committee in the senate.
On October 2, 2018 he lost his re-election bid at the partys' primaries to his opponent. His tenure is dated to end on June 9, 2019.
Scandal
On April 10, 2018 Ogola was involved in a certificate scandal where he had allegedly obtained a fake PhD degree from a non accredited university in Lagos, Nigeria. On March 26, 2018 an anonymous report was submitted to Leaks.ng a whistle blowing website that shares information with news partners across Nigeria, disclosing that Senator Foster Ogola has a fake PhD certificate from GMF Christian University which is an unaccredited university.
The submitted report read "Sen. Foster Ogola has a fake PhD. His official profile on the NASS Website says he has a PhD from GMF Christian University. There is no official site for the university and it is not accredited by the NUC. There is also no research paper or thesis to his name online. Although he got the degree in 2012.” Foster Ogala neither agreed or denied the allegations in his interview with journalists.