Any moment from now, Orji Uzor-Kalu, jailed former governor of Abia State and Senate Chief Whip, will be heading for the Appeal Court to seek the quashing of the judgment of the Federal High Court in Lagos, which on Thursday, December 5, 2019, sentenced him to a 12-year term.
One of his lawyers, Mr. Charles Ewelunta, said that having obtained the Certified True Copy (CTC) of the judgment, the team would return to the Federal High Court to ask for stay of execution of the judgment, apply for his bail and then file an appeal against the judgment at the Appeal Court.
According to Ewelunta, Kalu’s legal team had started studying the CTC to help them file an appeal that would be preceded by an application for stay of execution and bail.
But, having been convicted, there had been indications that the Senator Representing Abia North Senatorial District and a chieftain of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC), would continue to enjoy his full salaries and full entitlements, even while in prison and as his people would have no representative in the Red Chamber.
According to Senate spokesperson, Godiya Akwashiki, despite the conviction, Kalu would remain a sitting senator and would be paid all of his entitlements in full. Thus, until the final judgment of the Supreme Court on the case, the former governor would continue to enjoy the status of a serving senator.
Akwashiki explained: “He is still a senator. This is the first court. The matter is going to Supreme Court. So, he still has the opportunity to appeal up to the Supreme Court level. Of course, they will pay him. Because he is a sitting senator just like I said…if you file for appeal, you are still serving and so they will pay you.
“All his entitlements will be paid. There is no cause for alarm. In fact, even if Court of Appeal says they have upheld the judgment of the lower court, he still has the right to go to Supreme Court. So, once the Supreme Court says, yes, the judgment is okay, then that’s the final.”
Thus, as Akwashiki said, Kalu’s seat would not be declared vacant, even as he explained that there was no provision in the constitution that said the seat of any senator facing prosecution or convicted at a lower court should be declared vacant.
Kalu was not the first senator to enjoy this privilege. Akwashiki recalled: “Even the tenure of a former Governor Joshua Dariye, who has been in prison for some time now, ran its course until the end of the 8th National Assembly. Nobody declared his seat vacant.”
Kalu, it would be recalled, was convicted of corruption charges. He was sentenced to a maximum of 12 years imprisonment for N7.65bn fraud, among other multiple sentences ranging from three to five years on 27 counts.
Justice Mohammad Idris also convicted and sentenced his two other accomplices, who were found guilty alongside the ex-governor.
Kalu’s co-defendants in the case were his firm, Slok Nigeria Limited and Udeh Udeogu, Director of Finance and Accounts at the Abia State Government House during Kalu’s tenure as governor. The judge, in addition, ordered that Kalu’s company, Slok Nigeria Limited, to be liquidated and its assets forfeited to the Federal Government.
Kalu had been standing trial on a 39-count charge brought against him by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) since 2007.
The senator, Slok Nigeria Limited, and Udeh Udeogu, a former Director of Finance and Accounts in Abia State, were accused of diverting N7.65 billion belonging to state government. Kalu was also accused of illegally taking N460 million from Abia’s treasury.
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According to one of the charges against Kalu, “Slok Nigeria Limited – a company solely owned by you and members of your family – to retain in its account, domiciled with the then Inland Bank Plc, Apapa branch, Lagos, an aggregate sum of N7,197,871,208.7 on your behalf.”
The offences were said to be in contravention of Section 17(c) of the Money Laundering (Prohibition) Act, 2004.
During trial, the EFCC argued that the defendants breached Section 427 of the Criminal Code Act, CAP 77, Laws of the Federation 1990, and called 19 witnesses to support its case.
Sentencing Kalu, Justice Idris had said: “let me remind those who hold positions of authority in this country that they shall all be held responsible for their conducts; when they act contrary to the law, the same law shall be applied.”
Kalu, by the court decision, joined the list of former governors who had been jailed in Nigeria after their tenure due to fraud committed when they were in office. The others were Joshua Dariye of Plateau State and Jolly Nyame of Taraba State. Lucky Igbinedion of Edo State, who on conviction, was left off the hook after plea bargain.
Since the judgment, several Nigerians and groups had been commenting on the development. One of such group is the Centre for Anti-Corruption and Open Leadership (CACOL), which commended the Federal High Court for the conviction and sentencing of the former governor after being found guilty on all the 39-count charges levelled against him.
Mr. Debo Adeniran, CACOL’s Executive Chairman, in his comment, recalled that Kalu served as Abia State governor between 1999 and 2007, during which he stressed that the state experienced little or no tangible developmental achievements even with monthly federal allocations and other sundry sources of funds including Internally Generated Revenue (IGR).
He said that Kalu’s tenure was a period noted for backlog of salaries, including those in the teaching service, while those in government fed fat on resources that could have been used to expand the generating capacity and bring succour to the people through useful diversification of the state agrarian economy.
Adeniran lamented: “Rather than make his government and the entire cabinet accountable and responsive to the yearnings of the electorate, he converted the state’s wealth to personal and family estate through SLOK Nigeria Limited, his personal firm.
“After about 12 years, it was as if justice would never be served as the ordinary people of the state, where over N7.65b billion was found to have been looted, have been groaning and continue to suffer the devastating effects through substandard education, deteriorating medical facilities, disappearance of pipe borne water, etc.
“It was therefore, a great relief when he and his former Director of Finance, Ude Udeogu, met their deserving nemesis at the court by being found guilty on all the 39-count charges and ordered to forfeit properties and assets illegally acquired while they must also cool their heels behind bars for the next 12 years.”
The CACOL boss added, “While we commend the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) for their meticulous investigation and diligent prosecution, we advise that all the recovered assets, liquid and solid, be returned to their original source to provide immediate relief through service to urgent areas of governance to Abia people.
“Their prison uniform should be designated ‘Corruption Villains’, with their names and their former positions inscribed on their uniforms within their special cells that should make it possible for school children and other younger generation to pay a scheduled visit and see these convicts of corruption who were formerly in position of authority but recklessly abused same.
“This would serve as a deterrent and teach a moral lesson to the current and future generations of Nigerians.”
Justice Uhuegbu, lawyer cum activist, stated that Kalu and others were deceived by the comment of the national chairman of All Progressives Congress (APC), Adams Oshiomhole, that anyone who joined the APC would have his sins forgiven, maintaining that he was not surprised by the judgment of the court.
Uhuegbu said that history would always repeat itself, stressing that if Nigerians would do the right thing, justice must have been done. He said that the matter started even before 2015, except that Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) amended the charges. He stressed that his concern was that the court should have ruled that the property of Slot be forfeited to Abia State government, rather than Federal Government.
“The former governor did not acquire the property as a senator or official of federal government, since he acquired it while governor of Abia State, why should court rule that it be forefitted to Federal government.
“In the case of late Diepreye Alamasiagha, his property was forfeited to Bayelsa State government because they believed that he acquired the property with the state government’s money. This case should also go in the same direction,” he said.
Chuks Nwachukwu, presidential candidate of All Grassroots Alliance (AGA), also said that Kalu’s conviction did not come as a surprise. He, however, stressed that the property of Slot Group, which the court said should be forfeited to Federal Government, should be given to Abia State government, the rightful owners of the looted funds.
Nwachukwu stressed that Abia State had remained one of backward states in the country as a result of the activities of former leaders like Kalu, maintaining that the forfeiture should be to the state government, even as he noted that the EFCC Act stated that such forfeiture should be made to Federal Government.
He however said the proper thing to do should be that EFCC should return the property to the Abia State government, adding there could be fear of the serving governor returning the property to the former governor from the back door, if a good relationship had been existing between them.