*Constituents react
Barring any last-minute changes,
Senator Orji Uzor Kalu, who was released from a correctional facility in
Kuje, Abuja on Friday is set to resume at the Senate tomorrow, Daily
Trust reports. It could be recalled that the former Abia State governor
was jailed in December 2019 over allegation of misappropriation of
Abia’s state funds to the tune of N7.6 billion during his tenure;
between 1999 and 2007.
He pleaded not guilty. The lawmaker, who
represents Abia North in the Senate under the platform of the All
Progressives Congress (APC), heaved a sigh of relief when the Supreme
Court, last Friday, quashed the judgement of the lower court that
convicted him to a 12-year jail term.
Kalu and co-defendants,
Slok Nigeria Ltd and a former Director of Finance of the Abia State
Government House, Jones Udeogu, had challenged the jurisdiction of the
Federal High Court in Lagos to conduct the trial after the presiding
judge, Justice Mohammed Idris, who was elevated to the Court of Appeal,
returned to conclude the proceedings.
At the Supreme Court, the
justices held that the judge had no jurisdiction when he convicted Kalu
as the fiat he was given to conclude the trial was inconsistent with the
provision of the constitution that a judge of the court of appeal
cannot “descend” to also be a judge of the Federal High Court. After his
conviction, Kalu, who is the Senate Chief Whip, continued to enjoy all
his entitlements, including salaries while in prison even without
performing any legislative duty.
The Red Chamber had said that
despite his conviction, Kalu remained a serving lawmaker until he has
exhausted all legal options available to prove his innocence of the
case. “There is no provision in the constitution that says the seat of
any senator facing prosecution or convicted at a lower court should be
declared vacant,” the former Senate spokesman, Senator Godiya Akwashiki,
had said.
In Kalu’s absence, Senator Aliyu Abdullahi Sabi (APC,
Niger), the Deputy Chief Whip, held sway. A source close to Kalu said
the lawmaker is most likely to resume at the Senate on Tuesday, “since
he has been released from prison.”
Kalu had said, immediately
after the apex court pronouncement, that he looked “forward to rejoining
my colleagues in the Senate as soon as possible” after a five-month
incarceration at a correctional centre.
The lawmaker, in a
statement he signed, said his stay in prison had taught him invaluable
lessons about the country, its people, the justice system and the true
meaning of love.
He vowed to fight for the correction of
Nigeria’s criminal justice system where over 70% of the prison inmates’
population was made up of people awaiting trial.
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