The Senate Chief Whip in the National Assembly, Orji Uzor Kalu, former Governor of Abia State, had resume legal battle to exclude him from the N7.1 billion fraud allegation upon which he is being prosecuted by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) alongside a former Commissioner for Finance in Abia State, Jones Udeogu, among others. The former Governor of Abia State, who is a presidential aspirant on the platform of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC), accordingly, approached the Federal High Court sitting in Abuja, ‘seeking an order to strike out his name and that of his company, Slok Nigeria Ltd,” from the N7.1 billion suit the EFCC filed against him in the commission’s re-trial case.
Counsel to Senator Orji Uzor Kalu, Ikoro Ikoro, filing the suit for exoneration, explained that his client relied on the judgment of the Federal High Court, presided by Justice Inyang Ekwo, on September 29, 2021, in the application for exclusion from the pending suit.
Justice Inyang Ekwo in the judgment, restrained the federal government from retrying Orji Kalu after the Supreme Court judgment that freed him from prison after six months.
Senator Kalu further seeks an order of the court compelling the EFCC to unfreeze his bank account.
Justice Ekwo, thereafter, adjourned the suit to March 10 for hearing of the applications of Senator Orji Kalu and Slok, including the motion on notice by the EFCC, seeking transfer of the case to Lagos.
The Long Road to Freedom
The Federal High Court sitting in Lagos, in December 2019 found Senator Orji Uzor Kalu guilty on all the 39-count charges against him, and therefore, sentenced the former Abia governor to 12 years imprisonment.
The Federal High Court presided by Justice Mohammed Idris convicted the former governor of N7.65 billion fraud perpetrated during his tenures as Abia State governor – 1999 to 2007.
The court also convicted Kalu’s airline, Slok Nigeria Limited, including a former Director of Finance, Ude Udeogu, in Abia State.
Senator Orji Kalu continued the legal battle at the Supreme Court after losing at the Court of Appeal.
In May 2022, the Supreme Court annulled the imprisonment of Orji Kalu.
A panel of seven justices led by Justice Amina Augie, in the judgment nullified the conviction of Kalu, saying that the trial judge, Mohammed Liman, lacked the jurisdiction to hear the case.
The Supreme Court judgment, accordingly, freed Senator Orji Kalu from prisons, and ordered a retrial of the case.
Kalu, however, went to court to stop his retrial and got a court order to that effect. The EFCC, however, continued with the retrial of the senator which is currently being contested in the court of law.
Meanwhile, Kalu has indicated interest in the 2023 Presidential ticket of the ruling APC.