The travails of the former governor of Abia State, who turned the Senate’s Chief Whip, Orji Kalu, began way back before he ended his tenure as governor of the state.
Not a few attributed Mr Kalu’s political successes to his mother, Eunice Kalu, who is believed to have had a strong mobilisation machine at the grassroots. She was also a strong supporter of Mr Obasanjo during his tenure as President.Even as a sitting governor, the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission under the leadership of Nuhu Ribadu, beamed its search light on Mr Kalu’s government, raising several issues of corruption involving his mother and many other officials of his government.
“So, this is just a continuation of the third term agenda, a new scheme is coming up. They want to weaken all opposition so that Mr President can stay on in office.” Former Governor of Ekiti State, Mr Ayodele Fayose arrives the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission office in Wuse, Abuja on Tuesday . Fayose arrived the EFCC office, wearing a t-shirt with the inscription, ‘EFCC, I am here’. 05029/16/10/2018/Anthony Alabi/NAN
However, he indirectly got bashed through his Chief of Staff, Mr Orji, who was detained over corruption charges in the run up to the 2007 governorship election. With this reality, Mr Kalu had to deal with the double edged sword posed by the EFCC breathing hot from Abuja and the collapse of his political fiefdom, with Mr Orji cornering his labours in PPA and moving the machinery to the All Progressives Grand Alliance before making a return to the PDP.
He obviously enjoyed some respite at the time, suggesting that the Buhari government was willing to bend the rules and turn a blind eye to corrupt APC party members. After his arraignment in 2007, the former governor was granted bail. His bail conditions included the deposition of his travel documents with the court and being restrained from traveling outside the country without permission.
Earlier, on the September 10, 2018, Justice Mohammed Idris openly scolded Mr Kalu for being absent from the continuation of his alleged N7.65 billion fraud trial.The judge described as “highly irresponsible” the conduct of the former governor in the case since July 31, 2018 when his no-case submission was dismissed and he was directed to open his defence.
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