TheCable

Senate President Ahmad Lawan says the upper legislative chamber did not declare the seat of Uzor Orji Kalu, chief whip, vacant because he was “on several appeals.”

In December, a federal high court in Lagos convicted the chief whip of money laundering to the tune of N7.1 billion.

He stood trial alongside Ude Jones Udeogu, a former director of finance and account in Abia.

On May 8, the supreme court nullified the conviction of Kalu and Udeogu on the grounds that Mohammed Idris, the trial judge, did not have jurisdiction to hear the matter since he had been elevated to the court of appeal.

The former governor was released from the Kuje Correctional Centre on June 2. He had spent five months in prison.

Speaking when he received some political leaders from Abia state at the national assembly on Tuesday, Lawan said not declaring his seat vacant was “the right and just thing to do.”

“It would have been premature, unjust and unfair to declare his seat vacant or his position to be given away because he was in that situation,” Ola Awoniyi, his spokesman, quoted him as saying.

“So we didn’t do anything extraordinary really. We did what was right, what was just, what was necessary.

“He (Kalu) was on several appeals and until he exhausted all the opportunities available to him, that seat remained his seat.

“Similarly the position of the chief whip, we didn’t even appoint an acting chief whip. The deputy chief whip continued to play that role until he was released.

“Our people need us to give them leadership. They need us to give them good governance. They want to have a better life and particularly in Abia state, you have a lot of business people. They would like to see their businesses grow and do well.

“Once the leaders are united, it makes it much easier for the followership to remain united and supportive so that reaching the promised land can be quite easy.”