The National and State Assembly Election Petitions Tribunal sitting in Abia state has nullified the election of Orji Uzor Kalu as the Senator representing Abia North.
The tribunal has also ordered for a rerun election for the Abia North Senatorial District.
Kalu, until today, was a Senator under the platform of the All Progressives Congress (APC) and was inaugurated alongside other federal lawmakers for the 9th National Assembly.
More details later…
A former Abia governor, Dr Orji Uzo Kalu has indicated interest to contest for the position of the Deputy Senate President in the soon to be constituted 9th National Assembly.
Kalu also wants the All Progressives Congress (APC) to zone the position to the South-East in the interest of equity and justice.
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the Abia North Senator-elect made the disclosure while speaking with newsmen on Wednesday at the Murtala Muhammed International Airport, Lagos.
He noted that he was aware that the APC, which had the majority in the Senate, had zoned the senate president position to the North-East and the Deputy Senate President to the North-West.
Kalu said: “I am a very loyal party man. The party has zoned the senate presidency position to the North-East and I want to respect the party’s will but the second position is what we are not going to allow to leave the South-East.
“So, as far as I am concerned, in the South-East, I am going to run openly on the floor of the House for the position of Deputy Senate President.
“I am not going to listen to the party neither will I listen to anybody. Nobody that wants to be the Deputy Senate President is more loyal than I am to the party.
“I have suffered for the party and have been called by Nigerians to come out. I want the party to respect the will of every other person and I am committed to democracy and contesting on the floor of the House.”
According to him, Article 50 of the Constitution and Article One of the constitution make it clear that the members of the National Assembly in-House can elect their principal officers.
He said it was only fair that the position was retained in the South-East, stressing that both President Muhammadu Buhari and APC Chairman, Mr Adams Oshiomhole, were well aware of this.
“So, if justice must prevail, you have to bring the Senate President from the North-East and you bring the Deputy Senate President to the South-East.
“The chairman of the party is from South-South. The President is from North-West. The Vice-President is from South-West and also the Senate President will come from North-East.
“Whether it is Senators Ahmed Lawal or Alli Ndume, this will be decided on the floor of the House.
“So, for me, the tripod in Nigeria is Ibo, Yoruba and Hausa and we are going to get the deputy senate president and I will fight on the floor of the House like no other person has fought.
“That is not challenging the party but this is about looking for justice. Buhari said recently after the elections that he will be addressing issues of injustice and this is part of the issue,” Kalu said.
He further maintained that he was qualified for the position having being a former member of the Federal House of Representatives from 1991 to 1993 and also a two-time governor.
Kalu said: “I know the nook and crannies of how legislators operate. I have dealt with them and I am not a new comer. So, it is going to be impossible to edge me out or edge a whole zone out by claiming we are new comers.
“What I am fighting for is justice, fair play and for Nigeria to continue to be one. I have suffered in fighting for the unity of the country. They cannot use National Assembly or petty House officers to divide the country.
“I have sweated. All my investments are in the North, in the West and the South and we must protect these things and leave in peace.”
He, however, warned that he would be forced to contest for the position of the Senate President if the APC failed to do the needful.
“I have the capacity for lobbying. I am well known in East, West and North. If the party continues this way, I will run for the Senate President if justice is not done to say South-East bring the Deputy Senate President.
“I can assure you that there are over 56 Senators in my kitty now for either the Senate President or the Deputy Senate President that have already signed to what I believe in.
“It is only just to unveil it on the floor of the House,” Kalu added.
Former Abia governor, Chief Orji Kalu, has berated the apex Igbo socio-cultural organisation, Ohaneze Ndigbo, for endorsing the Presidential Candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), former Vice President Abubakar Atiku.
Kalu expressed his disappointment with the group on Sunday in an interview with newsmen in his Camp Neya country home in Igbere, Bende Local Government Area of the state.
He said that the John Nwodo-led executive of the organisation betrayed the people’s trust and exposed the body as being partisan.
“Ohaneze is a socio-cultural organisation and so should not be seen to be partisan. What the leadership did by endorsing Atiku was not in the interest of the Igbo nation.
“The endorsement also did not enjoy the support of the majority of members but may be a committee’s decision,” he said.
Kalu described the endorsement as wrong and capable of decimating the organisation into two factions, if not rescinded.
He said: “I was very surprised that Nwodo, whom I have a lot of respect for, could do such a thing because that is not the right thing to do.
“What they just did implies that we have two Ohanezes, or we are going to have another organisation in a different name.
“I will be in consultation with Gov. Willie Obiano of Anambra and other people of goodwill to decide what we will do next, we are not going to accept it.
“These are card-carrying members of PDP, they cannot use Ohaneze platform to endorse any candidate, it’s not acceptable to us.
“We want a level playing ground. I expected Ohaneze to be neutral, whoever wins, they should support.
“I’m not even expecting them to endorse Buhari, we want them to be neutral because neutrality is the hallmark of every independent cultural association,” Kalu said.
The former governor dismissed the fear that the endorsement would sway the voting pattern in the South-East against President Muhammadu Buhari.
He said that South-East APC had begun intensive campaign in churches and communities to showcase the president’s performance in the zone in just barely four years of his administration.
He further dispelled the speculation that the president hated Ndigbo, saying that Buhari had done for the area what PDP government could not do in their 16 years.
He cited the ongoing rehabilitation of the Enugu-Port Harcourt Expressway, Enugu-Onitsha Expressway and the construction of the second Niger Bridge as some of Buhari’s major projects in the area, to buttress his point.
He said: “I don’t know why people always say that Buhari hates the Igbos because I know Buhari very well. He is a friend to Ndigbo. Am I not a friend to President Buhari?
“I know that on February 16, Abia will give him more than 85 per cent of their votes.”
Kalu, who is the APC candidate in Abia North Senatorial District, expressed great confidence that the party would have landslide victory in all the elections.
“The party has the antidote against rigging,” he said, adding that the party also had what it would take to win the polls at all levels in 2019.
“We will never allow anybody to rig us out in Abia again. We shall match them force by force and money for money,” he said.
He gave assurance that he would pursue the enactment of bills that would help to transform the nation’s economy, create jobs and ensure agricultural revolution in all the states of the federation, if elected.
Hearing in the trial of a former Governor of Abia State, Dr Orji Kalu, for an alleged fraud of N7.65bn was stalled on Monday due to the absence of the ex-governor from court.
Kalu’s lawyer, Prof Awa Kalu (SAN), told Justice Mohammed Idris at the Federal High Court in Lagos that his client was away in Germany for a surgical operation.
He added that the ex-governor had been advised by his doctors to remain in Germany for some time to recuperate.
The defence counsel said the prosecutor for Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, Mr Rotimi Jacobs (SAN), was aware of the development and urged Justice Idris to further adjourn the case.
But Jacobs said he was surprised at Kalu’s absence from court, adding that he did not know if or when the ex-governor obtained the court’s permission to travel out.
Jacobs noted that having submitted his passport to the court as part of his bail conditions, Kalu must always apply to the court for the passport whenever he wished to travel.
Describing the ex-governor’s absence from court as an attempt to frustrate the case, Jacobs urged Justice Idris to interpret Kalu’s absence to mean that he had jumped bail.
“I am not aware when the 1st defendant wanted to travel. We only got to know that the 1st defendant travelled abroad for medical treatment through a statement by his media aide, one Kunle Oyewunmi.
“Things must be done in accordance with the law. In my own view, what happened is that the 1st defendant has jumped bail. This is an attempt to further frustrate this trial because no application was made to the court to travel.
“I urge Your Lordship to treat the absence of the 1st defendant that he has jumped bail,” Jacobs said.
Ruling on the lawyers’ submissions, Justice Idris noted that the court received a mail confirming Kalu’s treatment arrangement, but said the defence counsel failed to attach any medical report to guide the court on Kalu’s post-surgery treatment.
Justice Idris said in the circumstance, he would, in the interest of justice, adjourn the case for the last time, stressing that Kalu must return from Germany within seven days and appear before the court.
The judge ruled, “I have always stated that every citizen of this country is entitled to and has the right to seek medical treatment abroad. This right is guaranteed by the constitution, the African Charter on Human and Peoples Rights, the International Covenant of Civil and Political Rights and the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. It is an inalienable right.
“However, this right has exceptions; therefore, in exercising this right, due regard must be for the law and due process.
“Apart from the mail confirming the treatment arrangement of the 1st defendant, the defence counsel should have obtained a medical report on the condition of the 1st defendant post-surgery. This would have properly guided the court in the proceedings of today.”
He added, “In the light of the entirety of this case and in the interest of justice, I am prepared to grant to the 1st defendant a final adjournment in respect of this matter.
“In the light of the provisions of the ACJA, I shall not adjourn for more than seven days from today. It is, therefore, hereby directed that the 1st defendant shall return to the country within seven days from today’s date for the hearing of this matter.”
The matter was adjourned till November 12, 2018 for continuation of trial.
The Federal High Court in Abuja has summoned a former Governor of Abia State, Orji Kalu, to appear on November 14, 2018, to testify on the whereabouts of the missing leader of the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB), Mr. Nnamdi Kanu.
The request to summon the former governor to appear in court was filed by Kanu’s lawyer, Mr. Ifeanyi Ejiofor.
The subpoena, which bore the Federal High Court’s stamp and dated October 11, 2018, was signed by the “judge” and a copy of the subpoena was made available to journalists by Ejiofor on Friday.
The matter is before Justice Binta Nyako.
It read, “You are commanded in the name of the President and Commander-In-Chief of the Armed Forces of the Federal Republic of Nigeria to attend before this court on the 14th day of November, 2018, at 9 o’clock in the forenoon, … to give evidence on behalf of the defendant, with regards to your knowledge on the whereabouts of the defendant.
“As contained in your interview granted the press/media on 18th September, 2018, after your visit to the former Head of State, General Ibrahim Babangida, retd, in Minna, and the interview was widely reported both in print and online media.”
Ejiofor said in a statement that Kalu was being summoned because of his recent “outburst” about Kanu’s whereabouts.
He said, “Following the recent outburst by Dr Orji Uzor Kalu, wherein he announced to the world during a private visit to the former Head of State’s residence (Ibrahim Babangida) that he knows the whereabouts of my client (Nnamdi Kanu), and obvious misleading political points scored vide the said unguarded expression, we have formally caused the Federal High Court seized of the substantive matter to subpoena Orji Uzor Kalu to appear before His Lordship Hon. Justice B. M Nyako on the 14th day of November 2018 to give account of what he knows about the whereabouts of my client (Nnamdi Kanu).”
Kanu was being prosecuted on charges of treasonable felony alongside some alleged IPOB members before he went missing in 2017, after soldiers invaded his home in Afara-Ukwu, Abia State, during the ‘Operation Python Dance’ by the military to quell the agitation for the realisation of Biafra Republic in the South-East in September 2017.
While Kanu’s lawyer had continuously insisted that the IPOB leader was in military’s custody, Kalu had reportedly said he (Kanu) had escaped to the United Kingdom after the military operation.
This informed the Kanu’s legal team to have the former governor summoned to testify on what he knows about the IPOB leader’s whereabouts.
Dr Orji Kalu, former governor of Abia, it to be conferred with the traditional title of Dan Baiwan (gifted child), by the Emir of Daura, Alhaji Umar Farouk Umar.
The monarch in a letter dated Aug. 9, conveyed the decision of the Daura Emirate Council to honour Kalu, who is also a chieftain of the All Progressive Congress (APC).
A statement endorsed by Mr Kunle Oyewumi, Kalu’s Special Adviser, and made available to the News Agency of Nigeria(NAN) on Friday in Abuja stated that the event would take place during the Eid-el Kabir period
Kalu in his acceptance letter dated Aug. 16, said that the honour would encourage him to sustain his good works.
The former governor stressed that the emir has demonstrated his passion and commitment to a united and indivisible Nigeria.
He said: “I received with so much excitement, a letter of conferment of traditional title of Dan Baiwan Hausa on me by the Daura Emirate Council headed by Emir of Daura, Alhaji (Dr) Umar Farouk Umar.
“The honour is timely and encouraging.
“I am a detribalised Nigerian. This is a good compensation for continually spreading the message of peace and unity across the nation.
“We must continue to build friendship and relationships beyond our communities.
“I was born in Aba, I had my university education in Maiduguri, and Lagos is my business base. I have workers from different ethnic groups and religions. Nigerians should see themselves as one.
” I am appreciative of the recognition of my contributions to nation building and I pledge my continued loyalty to Daura Emirate Council, Katsina State and Nigeria at large.”
NAN
A former governor of Abia State, Orji Kalu, who was charged with an alleged fraud of N7.65bn, told the Federal High Court in Lagos on Wednesday that he had no case to answer.
His lawyer, Prof Awa Kalu (SAN), urged Justice Mohammed Idris to dismiss the entire 39 counts filed against his client by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission.
The lawyer contended that despite tendering several exhibits and calling a total of 19 witnesses, the anti-graft agency failed to establish a prima facie case against the former governor.
He urged the judge to discharge Kalu and let him go.
Similar applications and arguments were canvassed by Messrs Solo Akuma (SAN) and K.C. Nwofor (SAN) on behalf of Ude Udeogu and Kalu’s company, Slok Nigeria Limited, who were joined in the criminal lawsuit as the second and third defendants respectively.
Akuma, in his arguments, said despite alleging that Udeogu, who was the Director of Finance and Accounts of the Abia State Government House during Kalu’s administration, aided the former governor to lodge funds in the accounts of Slok Nigeria Limited, the prosecution did not present any bank teller endorsed by Udeogu to back up its claim.
On his part, Nwofor contended that the statements of accounts tendered as exhibits by the prosecution were bound to be dismissed, having not been signed by the bank contrary to the provisions of the Evidence Act.
But the prosecuting counsel for the EFCC, Mr Rotimi Jacobs (SAN), urged the court to dismiss the defendants’ no-case submissions, insisting that the prosecution had proven its allegations against them.
Jacobs urged Justice Idris to order the defendants to proceed to open their defence if they had any.
The prosecutor said Udeogu had, in his statements to the EFCC, clearly admitted “taking several millions of naira, while he was Director of Finance and Accounts, on the instruction of the governor to lodge for the purchase of Okrika (fairly-used clothes) in Aba.”
“How can they now turn around and say this does not call for questioning?” Jacobs queried.
After listening to the two sides, Justice Idris adjourned till August 31, 2018 for ruling.
A former governor of Abia State, Orji Kalu, was on Tuesday re-arraigned at a Federal High Court in Lagos on an amended 39-count bordering on fraud.
Kalu, who is now a member of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC), is being prosecuted by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC).
The anti-graft agency is prosecuting Mr Kalu alongside his former Commissioner for Finance, Ude Udeogo, and a company, Slok Nigeria Ltd., said to be owned by Kalu.
EFCC had on October 31, 2016, preferred 34-count charges, including a N3.2 billion fraud charge.
Messrs Kalu and Udeogo had, however, pleaded not guilty to the charges and were granted bail.
The EFCC closed the prosecution in May 2018, after calling 18 witnesses and tendering a plethora of evidences before the court.
When the case came up on July 16, the EFCC prosecutor, Rotimi Jacobs, informed court of a “second further amended charge”, urging the court to order the accused to take their pleas.
But Kalu’s defence team, comprising Awa Kalu, Solo Akuma, and K. C. Nwofo, all opposed the amended charge on grounds that it was not done in accordance with the provisions of the law.
They urged the court to refuse the amended charge.
In a short ruling on Tuesday, Justice Mohammed Idris (who has now been elevated to the court of appeal), while interpreting the provisions of Sections 216 and 217 of the Administration of Criminal Justice Act, held that the prosecution could amend the charge.
According to the court, an alteration of a charge can be allowed at any time, while the court accordingly, calls upon the accused to plead to the new charge and proceed with trial.
The court held that it cannot shut out the prosecution from filing a second amended charge as the defence had not showed that the amendment would be prejudicial to it.
After the court’s ruling, the accused were then re-arraigned on the new charges, and they again, each pleaded not guilty, while the court allowed them to continue with the earlier bails granted.
The defence team then informed the court of their various “no case submissions” filed on behalf of the accused, adding that they had served same on the prosecution, which in turn, filed a written address in reply.
The defence argued that the prosecution’s address was over 100 pages and so, they would require time to study same and make a response.
Idris then adjourned the case until July 25 to hear addresses on the “no case’’ submissions.
In the charge, the accused were alleged to have committed the offence between August, 2001 and September, 2006.
Kalu was alleged to have used his company, Slok Nigeria Ltd., to retain N200 million in an account in First Inland Bank, now First City Monument Bank.
The sum is alleged to have formed part of funds illegally derived from the treasury of the Abia State Government,
In one of the counts, Mr Kalu, his company (Slok Nig Ltd), one Emeka Abone and Michael Akpan, who are said to be at large, were also alleged to have between 2001 and September 2006, collaborated to commit an offence.
They were alleged to have concealed the genuine origin of an aggregate sum of N7.2 billion, which formed part of funds illegally derived from the Abia State Treasury, and converted same into several bank drafts, which were subsequently, paid into the account of Slok Nigeria Ltd.
In counts one to 10, the accused were alleged to have retained about N2.7 billion in different accounts, which funds were said to belong to the Abia State Government.
Cumulatively, in all the counts, the accused were alleged to have diverted over N7.1 billion from the Abia State Government’s treasury, during Kalu’s tenure as governor.
The offences contravene the provisions of Sections 14, 15(6), 16, 17 and 21 of the Money Laundering (Prohibition) Act, 2005.
They also contravene the provisions of the Money Laundering Act of 1995 as amended by the amendment Act No. 9 of 2002 and Section 477 of the Criminal Code Act, Laws of the Federation, 1990.
Former governor of Abia State and chieftain of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC), Dr. Orji Uzor Kalu, yesterday blamed former President Olusegun Obasanjo for instigating most of fraud allegations leveled against him while he served as governor.
Orji who made the disclosure yesterday while on Channels Television Programme, Sunday Politics also alleged that the former President shared $16bn power funds among his loyalists.
While responding to questions on allegations that corruption fight by the President Muhammadu Buhari-led administration is a witch-hunt, especially as many believed that charges against him were dropped after he dumped PDP for APC, he said he was never witch-hunted by President Buhari.
“I have never been one (witch-hunted). It was former President Obasanjo that made me be one. I served Abia people with all sincerity.
“Even the PDP Obasanjo ran as the President if it’s a company, myself and few others will own 90% of it. I gave him the first N500miliion in 1998,” he added.
Kalu who was a former PDP governor stressed that President Obasanjo if the need be should be probed by the Buhari-led administration.
According to him, those who are calling others corrupt, dine amidst corruption.
“If Obasanjo’s government deserves to be probed, he should be probed. I don’t see anything wrong in probing any government that has taken Nigeria’s people money. The money does not belong to Buhari. The money belongs to Nigerian people.”
There was a huge corruption under Obasanjo’s tenure, I remember that I wrote him a letter when he tagged all governors as corrupt when he was President and I replied him that I was an exception to the list, it was first published by Thisday.
When Obasanjo was President we had just about 2,000 mega watts, but today under Buhari we have over 7,000 megawatts, which is three times better, but Nigeria needs to generate about 60,000 megawatts to ensure that the country is served constant power.
When asked about the danger Obasanjo’s party, the African Democratic Congress (ADC) portends on Buhari’s re-election, Kalu replied. “Obasanjo only serves himself, he doesn’t think about Nigerians. He has lots of things [selfish inetrests] under his table. Anything that from Obasanjo can never be in the interest of the people, he wants everything to be done by him.”
Kalu also alluded to the missing $16 billion power fund which was recently raised by President Buhari, the former governor posited that the funds was shared between Obasanjo and his allies.
” $16 billion power is missing, there was no project done with it that money, it was shared among people who were loyal to Obasanjo, count all his friends and you will find those who shared the money”
“Our public assets were also sold, Nigerians were deceived, the sales were not properly done, the assets were dashed to those loyal to Obasanjo”
I don’t see anything wrong in probing Obasanjo, if someone has taken monies belonging to a country then that person should be probe.
The Economic and Financial Crime Commission (EFCC) on Friday closed its case against a former Governor of Abia, Orji Kalu and two others charged with N3.2 billion fraud.
The EFCC Prosecutor, Mr Rotimi Jacobs (SAN), announced closure of the prosecution’s case at the Federal High Court, Lagos. He, however, informed the court that the prosecution intended to amend the charge against the accused to reflect more evidence.
The EFCC had on Oct. 31, 2016, slammed a 34-count charge bordering on N3.2 billion fraud against Kalu, his former Commissioner for Finance, Ude Udeogo, and Slok Nigeria Ltd. The accused had pleaded not guilty to the charge and were granted bails.
Jacobs had led the 17th prosecution witness, Chidi Chukwuka, in evidence at the last adjournment.
At the resumed trial of the case on Friday, Kalu’s counsel, Mr Awa Kalu (SAN), continued the cross-examination of the witness. Chukwuka had earlier told the court that he was a Deputy Director in the Nigeria Deposit Insurance Corporation (NDIC) and an investigator with the EFCC as at the time of the alleged fraud.
He said during his investigations, he had obtained statements from Mr Samuel Iheke, a former Permanent Secretary in the State Ministry of Local Government and Chieftaincy Affairs.
He said he also obtained statements from Mr Chinedum Elechi, the then Secretary, Association of Local Governments of Nigeria (ALGON) in Abia.
Awa applied to tender the statements the witness had identified and same were admitted and marked as Exhibits Z to Z9 respectively. When the witness was asked what the state officials had told him was the reason for the N26 million monthly withdrawals from the Joint Account Allocation Committee (JAAC) account of the state, the witness replied: “The officials had claimed that the withdrawals were used for sanitation in Abia State.”
He testified that over N2.5 billion was transferred from the Abia Government House main account to Abia State University and Secondary Education Management Board accounts.
Counsel to the second accused, Mr Solo Akuma (SAN), asked if the witness was fully involved in the investigation to which he responded in the affirmative.
Akuma : By count 24 of the charge preferred by the EFCC against the accused, is it correct to say that the N554 million came in various cheques?
Witness : I don’t know, He said the EFCC did not investigate the accused before the petition from Eyinnaya Abaribe.
Mr Kingsley Nwofo (SAN), counsel to Slok Nigerai Ltd., asked the witness if any of the statements had shown funds move from the Government House accounts to the third accused (Slok), he responded in the negative.
There was no re-examination and the witness was discharged.
Justice Mohammed Idris adjourned the case until May 30 and May 31 for defence to open their case.
The EFCC alleged that Kalu and the others committed the offences between August 2001 and October 2005.
The commission accused Kalu of utilising his company, Slok Nigerai Ltd., to retain N200 million in the account of First Inland Bank ( acquired by First City Monument Bank, FCMB).
It said the sum formed part of funds illegally derived from the coffers of the state government.
The commission also said that the accused had in different bank accounts about N2.5 billion belonging to Abia and diverted about N3.2 billion from the coffers of the government.
The offences contravened sections 15(6), 16, and 21 of the Money Laundering (Prohibition) Act, 2005 and the Money Laundering Act of 1995 (as amended by Act No.9 of 2002 and Section 477 of the Criminal Code Act, Laws of the Federation, 1990.