Kalu: Why He Was Not Spared; Presidential Aide Mocks Him

“Returning to a ruling Party is one dream I have long dreamt to realize. I’ve not just come back, I am a Senator. I don’t think I will make the mistakes I made when I was governor. Ohaneze and co can do Igbo as they like, I don’t give a damn. Everyone must carry his cross.

“I am not afraid to speak the truth; I’m trained by a Hausa Fulani, I brought RUGA to the South east. I built a mosque for the Moslems when I was governor. I have business scattered in the northern part of the country. We are one Nigeria. We must support Buhari to implement RUGA across the country.

“Anytime a vote is called for any bill to be passed in favour of RUGA, I, Orji Uzor Kalu will vote in support.”

– Orji Uzor Kalu, in an interview

By Ebere Levi

The above quote is from the now convicted former governor of Abia State, Senator Orji Uzor Kalu. It tells his story, his politics, his fierce defence and loyalty to President Muhammadu Buhari, and his, atimes, I don’t-care attitude to the yearnings of the majority of his people. Some people call it his selfishness.

Yet, blood is thicker than water. Majority of his Igbo people are shocked at his seeming downfall, his seeming call from grace to grass. They are not celebrating. They are sticking to an Igbo proverb which says: “When a corpse starts smelling, a friend thought to be closer than a relation, disappears.”

Before Thursday December 5th, Orji Uzor Kalu’s honour was intact. He was a former House of Reps member, former governor and currently Chief Whip of the Senate.

And so, as he sat calmly in the dock facing Justice Muhammed  Idris of the Federal  High Court, Lagos, Kalu knew his fate lies with the Judge. And one silent prayer the former governor probably muttered as Justice Idris made to read his judgement was: “God, please preserve my honour and integrity, let this cup pass me by”

But that prayer was not answered. By the time  the Judge was done with his ruling, Kalu had become a convicted criminal, and Correctional Centre bound.

Convicted on all 39 count chargers brought against him by the EFCC bordering on #76.65 billion fraud perpetuated by him while he held sway as the governor of Abia state between 1999 and 2007 and slammed with a 12 year jail term, Kalu’s 12 year battle to stave off prison has been lost.

“Please  Don’t Handcuff Me”

Moments after the judgement, officials of the Nigerian Correctional Service, armed with handcuffs made a brisk movement towards the dock where Kalu sat, lost, and crestfallen with a far away look dancing on his face, and made for his wrists.

It was at that moment it dawned on the ex- governor that his social status has been severely altered by the court ruling.

Evidently agitated and alarmed at being photographed with handcuff, Kalu made a passionate plea to the handcuff wielding officials: “Please, don’t handcuff me. I will follow you.”

As he was being led away, the convicted Senate Chief Whip managed to maintain a calm mien.He then asked the prison warders escorting: “Where are you taking us to?” And to the equally shocked news-hounds, he managed an apparent joke: “2023, here we come”.

A12 year Battle and the Road to Golgotha 

In the twilight of his governorship, an avalanche of petitions against the then youthful governor flooded the EFCC, at that time superintended by the by the fire- spitting Nuhu Ribadu. The petitioners had alleged that Kalu and his mother, Eunice Kalu, called “Mother Excellency” by Abians, ostensibly, because of her alleged firm hold on his son and influence she wielded in his government, had dipped their hands in Abia’s common till.

Shortly after leaving office on May 29, 2007, the anti- graft Agency wasted no time in charging the ex governor to court. The case was however, to linger for 12 years, ending with Kalu’s conviction by Justice Idris.

He was convicted alongside his firm, Slok Nigeria Limited and the former Abia State director of finance, Ude Udeogu.

Though Kalu became quite wealthy at the young age of 24, which means he was already rich before his election as Abia governor in 1999, the court insisted assets of his company were proceeds of the heist of Abia’s financial resources. It, therefore, means that apart from sending the former governor to jail,   all the assets of his company would be forfeited to the federal government.

Question Is: How Fair Is That?

However, the forfeiture order is now raising eyebrows Many wonder why Justice Idris ceded Abia’s recovered wealth to the Federal government. “It is Abia’s money that Kalu stole and those who petitioned the EFCC did so with the hope that the money would be recovered and returned to the state. It is strange that Justice Idris has given the Federal government what does not belong to it. It is quite strange and unsettling”, Elvis Nwamadu, a public affairs analyst, lamented. That aside, Kalu had acquired a number of such assets before he became a governor. He was, financially, solid long before then. Why was he stripped of everything?, a number of people are asking.

The Charges

In an amended 39-count-charges, Senator Kalu and Udeogu were accused, by the EFCC, of conspiring and diverting over N7 billion from the coffers of the state.

In one of the counts, the EFCC said that Kalu “did procure 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 EFCC insisted that the N7.1 billion “formed part of the funds illegally derived from the treasury of the Abia State Government and which was converted into several bank drafts before they were paid into the said company’s account.”

EFCC’s Lawyer, Rotimi Jacobs, said the ex-governor violated Section 17(c) of the Money Laundering (Prohibition) Act, 2004, and was liable to be punished under Section 16 of the same Act.

Jacobs told the court that the former governor violated Section 17(c) of the Money Laundering (Prohibition) Act, 2004, and was therefore, liable to be punished under Section 16 of the same Act.

Besides the N7.1bn he was said to have laundered, Senator Kalu and the other defendants were also alleged to have received a total of N460 million said to have been stolen from the Abia State Government treasury between July and December 2002.

The EFCC told the court that Senator Kalu and his co- accused breached Section 427 of the Criminal Code Act, Cap 77, Laws of the Federation of Nigeria, 1990.

And Kalu’s Political Bullet Proof Failed Him

Senator Kalu fought hard to stay off jail. He threw all into the fight.He didnt want to go to jail.He wanted the corruption charges dead, even if it is a programmeed, unnatural dead.

And so he was ready to clutch on anything that could change the narrative.He was also ready to stake everything just to ensure that he was not  tarred with the sobriquet: ” A convict”.

He did stake all to achieve this.   What to do? He clutched on President Muhammadu Buhari and the APC. Apparently, he felt, or was told that defecting to the party, and crying more than the breaved in the mould of vociferous support for Buhari, were the political bullet proofs he needed to be shielded from prosecution, the only antidote against the continuation of his trial.

And so, he wore Buhari and the APC like bullet proof vest, flaunting them at every juncture. In so doing,  Kalu staked the political preference of his people, the South east and specifically Abia. When the Anti- APC fervour was at its peak in the zone, Kalu joined the party, dumping the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, which he has consistently claimed he founded and funded.

While  the South east and the majority of its politicians (including many APC chieftains in the zone who secretly rooted for the Obi/ Atiku ticket) were feverishly drumming support for the PDP and its presidential candidate and running mate, Atiku Abubakar and Peter respectively, Kalu surfaced in Buhari’s home in Daura, Kastina, where the Emir turbaned him. Adorning the Islamic turban on his head and grinning from ear to ear, he made a splash of it.

In Daura, he pledged South east’s support for the president and the APC, and declared him the best thing that has happened to Nigeria.

Despite the much touted marginalisation of the South east in the Buhari government, especially in the security apparatus, Kalu granted an interview justifying the lopsided appointments, saying Buhari had the right to pick all of his Service Chiefs from the North.

Following his conviction, many who feel the former governor sold out in order to curry favour from the APC government have been mocking him. For example, a social media influencer, Nkechinyere Nuru Asogwa, wrote on her Facebook wall: ” What next for Orji Kalu? I thought that APC is political bullet proof”.

Another social media influencer, Queenvee Chimaobi wrote: “Orji Uzor, how market?  This is what you get for selling out your people. You joined APC to cover up, the cabals behind Buhari are the real gamers”.

And A Presidential Aide Mocks

The unkindest mockery came from a Presidential Aide,  Senator Babafemi Ojudu. No sooner was Kalu convicted than he mocked: “All those who are stealing will go the way of Kalu”. One did not expect such a reaction from a Presidential quarter, especially, as Kalu was considered to have given all to curry Presidential favours. He was considered one of them, an inner circle member, or so he claimed.

Abia APC, Shocked

Meanwhile, Abia APC Chairman, Donatus Nwankpa said he was disappointed by the judgement. In an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria, NAN, Nwakpa blamed the judiciary for Kalu’s woes.

“The party will meet to take a position on the judgment but as an individual, I am very saddened by the judgment. I am not convinced that judgment was given…considering the utterances of the judge. I’m highly convinced that something went wrong. The judgment is not fair,” he said.

Of Ethnic Colouration and Different Strokes For Different Folks

Not a few Nigerians are reading ethnic meaning to the jailing of Kalu.They alleged the former Abia state governor got the treatment Justice Idris handed down to him because he( kalu) is Igbo.

Many are wondering why the APC led federal government saw to the  logical conclusion of Kalu’s case but did not sustain the corruption trial of former Gombe governor, Senator Danjuma Goje.

Critics equally draw attention to the dropping of charges against  former Bayelsa state governor and now Minister of state for Petroleum, Timipre Slyva. His corruption charges were dropped and about 32 houses, already seized from him, by the EFCC, returned to him.

Asked a weeping devastated Abia Youth who was too broken to give his name: “Why kalu? Why has the EFCC not dealth with the corruption petitions against former governors Bola Tinubu( APC National Leader), Godswill  Akpabio(Niger Delta Minister), Adam Oshiohmole (APC National Chairman), Chibuike Amaechi – all prominent actors in the Buhari government?”

In Goje’s case, the EFCC in June this year, dramatically withdrew the N25 billion corruption charge it had preferred against him.

Goje was, at that time, angling for the Senate Presidency against APC/ Buhari’s choice and the current occupier of that office, Senator Ahmed Lawan. It is widely believed that the withdrawal of the case was a trade-off offered Goje in exchange for burying his ambition.

Similarly, Akpabio, this magazine cannot confirm, was on the verge of being put on trial last August before he surfaced in London where Buhari was vacating, genuflecting  before the President.

Days later, he returned to the country and announced his defection to the APC thus, according to sources, “sounding the death knell on his impending trial for corruption”

A social commentator, Attah Enwang, sums up in pidgin English, the alleged victimisation of Kalu because of his Igbo ethnicity: “Orji Uzor Kalu bags 12 years jail? Bcos na Igbo? Until Akpabio, Tinubu and Ganduje are convicted, Buhari is not fighting corruption”.

Kalu, Not The Only Ex-Governor, Convicted

But those reading ethnic coloration, forget that before Kalu, there were  Jolly Nyame and Joshua Dariye.

Nyame is a former Governor of Taraba state, and Dariye, a former Governor of Plateau state. Like Kalu, Dariye had jumped ship from the PDP  to the APC, and was a serving Senator. Both are in jail. And, like Kalu’s, even though their cases were started under the PDP government, they were concluded  under the APC government.

The Man, His Politics, His Controversies, His Businesses

Senator Kalu projects himself as a pan-Nigerian, a detribalised Nigerian and political juggernaut. He is also a business mogul who presides over a sprawling business empire spanning oil and gas, shipping, hospitality industry, publishing, banking, haulage, aviation among others.

In his bid to live up to the billings above, the former Abia state governor has often found himself mired in controversies.

For example, as governor, he was highly critical of President Olusegun Obasanjo, often hauling insults at the then Nigerian leader who he derided as corrupt, wicked and incompetent.

He boasts that Obasanjo was penniless when he came out of prison in 1998, and that he was among those who contributed millions of Naira to make him president.

Out of office, Kalu was not down with pillorying Obasanjo. In one of the interviews he granted to a team of newspaper Editors, Kalu made some far reaching allegations against the former president.

Holding Obasanjo responsible for his woes, the ex-governor pointedly alleged that the former president had told him to his face that he would make sure he suffered in life.

He traced his differences with Obasanjo to the latter’s alleged third term ambition which he claimed he, in conjunction with some PDP governors, and in Collaboration with foreign powers, thwarted, a feat he describes as “a coup against Obasanjo”.

Kalu equally alleged that Obasanjo, indeed, in the presence of former military President, Ibrahim Babangida, pledged to be a one term president after which he would handover to him( Babangida).

In the run up to the 2003 presidential election, Kalu alleges, Obasanjo knelt down for him in his ( Kalu) bedroom and begged that he be allowed to run for second term.

However, Kalu’s critics characterise him  as one who lacks decorum.

They posit that the former governor hugs the headlines by playing to the gallery. For example, they reveal that in many occasions, after abusing Obasanjo in the day, Kalu would sneak into Ota at night with his mother to prostrate before the chicken farmer and beg for forgiveness.

Described as a  political prostitute  by his opponents, in the last 20 years, the embattled former Abia state governor has tranversed political parties- from PDP to the Peoples Progressive Alliance, PPA (which he founded as a sitting governor at the height of his spat with Obasanjo), from PPA back to the PDP, and then from PDP back to the PPA, and yet from PPA back to the PDP and finally from the PDP to the APC.

In his quest to be accepted and seen as a detribalised Nigerian, Kalu often end up injuring the socio-political sensibilities of his Igbo kins. For example, in 2001, Kalu as governor attracted the ire of the Igbo, and attracted to himself opprobrium and odium when he, on behalf of Ndigbo, offered what he had termed  an “apology”  to Nigeria over the Nigerian-Biafran war, absolving his generation’s complicity in the war.

Not many Igbo forgave him for that.

The End?

Will Kalu’s imprisonment Mark the end of his political career? Not likely. And, he does not think so. He still has his eyes on 2023. At, least, he told Journalists so I’m court after his conviction. He always said he would be the first Nigerian President from the South-east. How that will materialise, only him knows.

Truth is: He still has chances to re-ignite his political career. That begins with an appeal, to a higher court against his conviction, beginning from the Appeal Court. “We shall pursue this case to the Supreme Court”, a Kalu sympathiser told this magazine.

Even then, a couple of Nigerians had come out of jail,  stronger than ever. In Kalu’s category, this magazine can point out the former Governor of Delta State, James Ibori. Jailed for corruption in London, out of jail, Ibori remains the most influential politician in Delta.