2023, Here We Come ― Orji Kalu

Posted by: Folamidavid in News, Politics Dec 5, 2019

Ex Governor of Abia State, Dr Orji Uzor Kalu, who has been sentenced to 12 years imprisonment, over N7.65billion fraud, by a Federal High court sitting in Lagos, was heard saying “2023, here we come” as he was led out of the court by the Correctional Service officers.

The politician was also heard asking prison warders, “where are you taking us to?” as he begged the prison warders not to handcuff him in public.

He wiped tears from his eyes with a white handkerchief as the judge read an abridged version of the 228-page judgment.

Orji Kalu’s associate, Udeogu, was sentenced to 10 years in prison and the company which was used in committing the fraud, Slok Limited, was told to be wound up and all the assets forfeited to the Federal Government.

The case started in 2007, 12 years ago, when Kalu was first arraigned for the offences before a different judge.

The Judge said that the sentence is to run concurrently.

Justice at last.

Orji Uzor Kalu was born in April 21, 1960 to the family of Mr. Johnson Uzor Nesiegbe Kalu and Mrs Eunice Kalu. He is the chairman of SLOK Holding and the Daily Sun and New Telegraph newspapers in Nigeria, who served as the governor of Abia State, Nigeria from May 29, 1999, to May 29, 2007. Prior to his election, he served as the chairman of the Borno Water Board and the chairman of the Cooperative and Commerce Bank Limited. Kalu was also a member of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Progressive Peoples Alliance (PPA) and the chairman of the PPA Board of Trustees. He was the party’s presidential candidate in the April 2007 general election. He is currently a member of the ruling All Progressive Congress (APC) after he officially announced his resignation as a PPA BOT.

Orji Uzor Kalu contested in the 2019 Nigerian general election to represent the people of Abia North in the senate, running under the banner of All Progressives Congress. He defeated the incumbent senator Mao Ohuabunwa with over 10,000 votes.

Kalu attended Christ the King School Aba and Government College Umuahia. After studying at Barewa College, Zaria, he enrolled in the University of Maiduguri where he studied political science. During his time at the university, Kalu became a student activist, and participated in the “Ali Must Go” riots against the education minister. His participation resulted in his suspension. While his fellow students later took the school authorities to court, Kalu left school to build his own business.

Kalu is the chairman of the Daily Sun, a Nigerian daily print newspaper founded and published in Ikeja, Lagos, Nigeria. The newspaper had a daily circulation of 130,000 copies as of 2011, and 135,000 for weekend titles, with an average of 80% sales. The Daily Sun was the highest selling newspaper in Nigeria. The Daily Sun was incorporated on March 29, 2001, and began production as a weekly on January 18, 2003, and as a daily on June 16, 2003. The newspaper is similar in format to The Sun in the United Kingdom.