Senator Orji Uzor Kalu Calls for bye-election for the replacement of the Senatorial seat of jailed former Governor of Abia State, Orji Uzor Kalu has been growing louder by the day.
This is coming barely two months into the 12 years jail term imposed on Kalu, which he is presently serving at the Nigerian Correctional Service in Kuje, FCT. Senator Uzor Kalu was on December 5, 2019 sentenced to 12 years prison for diversion of N7.2billion by a Lagos Federal High Court alongside a former Commissioner for Finance in Abia State, Jones Udeogu and his company, Slok Nigeria Ltd. Kalu, who was Governor between 1999 and 2007, was charged with 39-count charges bordering on money laundering, fraud and diversion of funds.
Sources said that Kalu spent only one day at the Ikoyi Correctional Centre in Lagos before he was moved to the Kuje Correctional Centre in the FCT. He later made a post-sentence bail application seeking to be released on medical grounds. But Justice Abdullahi Liman refused the application and wondered the haste in making same while the appeal against his conviction on a 39-count charge by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) had not been heard by the Court of Appeal.
Since being relocated to Abuja, the senator representing Abia North Senatorial District on the platform of the All Progressives Congress (APC), was said to have been receiving visitors in the prison facility. It is believed that part of the agenda for these meetings behind the fortified walls of the prison, has to do with his political future.
Kalu won the senatorial seat in February 23, 2019 election after polling 30,580 votes to beat other rivals, including immediate past senator for the District Senator Mao Ohuabunwa of the Peoples’ Democratic Party (PDP) who had 21, 940 votes and Ogba Onuoha Bourdex of the All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA) with 11, 410 votes.
Kalu’s election was initially upturned by the Abia State National Assemblies Election Petitions Tribunal in Umuahia, and ordered a supplementary rerun within 90 days in several polling units under the District such as Arochukwu, Ohafia, Isiukwuato LGAs. Other local governments under the zone are Bende and Umunneochi. But he was by the Court of Appeal in Owerri, Imo State affirmed victory in November, 2019.
But some constituents of the ex-governor are already calling for his replacement in the Senate. Senator Ohuabunwa has hinted that Kalu’s incarceration will affect some of the constituency projects such as health centres he initiated in the 8th Senate. Similarly, the Chairman of the Inter Party Advisory Council (IPAC), Ceekay Igara, said it was natural to call for the replacement of Senator Kalu, who he said is being sentenced to 12 years imprisonment, four of which was meant to represent the people of Abia North in the Senate.
Also, some aggrieved constituents were recently reported to have sent a petition to the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) complaining of the vacancy of the senate seat for the district.