A former governor of Abia State, Orji Uzor-Kalu has hired six Senior Advocates of Nigeria, SANs, as well as 12 lawyers to secure his release from prison.
Recall that the lawmaker who represents Abia North in the Senate was jailed in December 2019 over allegation of misappropriation of Abia’s State funds during his tenure as the governor of the state, between 1999 and 2007.
However, a Supreme Court judgement of Friday, 8 April, voided the earlier judgment convicting him.
The apex court, in a unanimous decision by a seven-man panel of Justices led by Justice Amina Augie, held that the Federal High Court in Lagos acted without jurisdiction when it convicted Kalu, his firm, Slok Nigeria Limited and former Director of Finance in Abia State, Jones Udeogu.
It held that trial Justice Mohammed Liman was no longer a judge of the Federal High Court as at the time he sat and delivered the judgement that convicted the defendants for allegedly stealing about N7.1billion from Abia state treasury.
However, a few days after the judgement, the Comptroller-General of Nigeria Correctional Service, Jaafar Ahmed, refused to release Mr Kalu, saying that there was no any order from the Supreme Court.
Speaking with The Nation on Monday, May 11,, a source at the Abuja Correctional Centre has said: “Kalu is still at our Correctional Centre in Kuje because there us no enrolled order from the Supreme Court to release him.
“There are no words from the Supreme Court but the judgment was clear on Ude Udeogu.
“We will not release him until there is an order from a competent court of jurisdiction.”
