Orji Kalu’s sobbing during his farewell speech on the Senate’s ninth floor on Saturday caused solemnity to fall over the chamber.
Weeping, Kalu said that some organizations who plotted against him called him a thief.
He said, “Before I came into politics, I 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.”
The former governor of Abia and Ude Jones Udeogu, a former director of finance and accountant, had been charged by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission with 36 counts of money laundering totaling N7.1 billion.
On December 5, 2019, Kalu received a sentence of 12 years in jail while Udeogu received a term of 10 years.
Later, the Kalu and his co-defendants’ trial was declared invalid by the Supreme Court.
Mohammed Idris, the trial judge who had been promoted to the court of appeal at the time the case was filed, was ordered by the top court to refrain from preside over the case while serving as a judge on the appeals court.
He is not facing any new allegations.
Before entering politics, the chief whip claimed, he was well-off and had contributed significantly financially to the creation of the People’s Democratic Party.
Senator Kalu stated, “I have never lacked, while I was in the Peoples Democratic Party where I served for two terms as governor, I brought the money they used to form that party, every penny, in 1997 and 1998, and I later became a thief.
“People I gave transport money from my house in Victoria Island became agents. This is what Nigeria represents.”
Senator Kalu, who is also a frontline contender for the leadership of the 10th Assembly, said that the country was not fair.
He added, “Thank you for giving me these four years of uninterrupted support. This country is not fair.”
