10th June, 2023
By Kazeem Ugbodaga
Senator Orji Uzor Kalu wept on Saturday during his Valedictory speech on the floor of the senate, saying he is not a thief and has never been one.
The emotional former Governor of Abia State said before he came into politics, he could buy anything money could buy.
“I’m not a thief. Those who put me in prison know the reason. They took over my businesses and wanted to kill me, yet I survived it, and I’m in the Senate with you,” Kalu said.
According to Kalu, he had never lacked, saying that while he was in the Peoples Democratic Party where he served for two terms as governor, he brought the money they used to form that party, every penny, in 1997 and 1998.
“People I gave transport money from my house in Victoria Island became agents. This is what Nigeria represents. Thank you for giving me these four years of uninterrupted support. This country is not fair,” Kalu was quoted by The Punch as saying.
Kalu was convicted by the Lagos Division of the Federal High Court on Thursday, 5 December 2019 and sentenced to 12 years in prison for N7.65 billion fraud.
He was convicted for defrauding the government of Abia State where he was a governor for 8 years using his company, Slok Nigeria Limited.
On Friday, 8 May, 2020, the Supreme Court of Nigeria ruled that his trial was wrongly conducted and released him from prison while ordering a retrial.