The Court of Appeal sitting in Abuja has dismissed an appeal filed by the former governor of Abia State and Chief Whip of the Senate, Dr. Orji Uzor Kalu, against his sentence.
Kalu was sentenced to 12 years in prison last December, by a Federal High Court in Lagos over N7.1 billion fraud
Kalu in his appeal, had contended that the Federal High Court in Lagos lacked the jurisdiction to try him.
But the three-member panel of the appellate court, however, dismissed the appeal for lacking in merit.
In the judgement read by Justice Olabisi Ige, the court held that section 98(3) and (4) of administration of Criminal Justice Act, 2015 were not applicable to the appellants’ case.
According to the judge, “Nothing is perverse with the decision of the trial court. The complaint of the appellants is a non-issue,” the judge held.
“If a court has a jurisdiction/power, the fact of doing so under a wrong law is no reason to set it aside. The rights of the appellants were not infringed.”
Meanwhile, Kalu’s co-defendant and former Abia State Commissioner for Finance Udeh Udeogu, got lucky as the Federal High Court sitting in Lagos on Thursday granted him a post-conviction bail.
Justice Mohammed Liman granted bail to Udeogwu in the sum of N50million, on the grounds of ill health and chronic tuberculosis.
Tuberculosis, the judge said, is a dangerous disease which can easily affect the other inmates of the correctional facility.
Justice Liman said: “I’m of the opinion that this application has disclosed a reasonable cause of action that the defendant’s health has greatly deteriorated which cannot be salvaged by the doctor in the correctional services centre
“Accordingly this application is meritorious and succeeds.
“Bail is hereby granted to the applicant in the following terms: Applicant is granted N50million bail with two sureties in like sum,
“One of the Sureties must be a landed property owner within the jurisdiction.”
The judge also ordered that the bailiff of court must verify the authenticity of the title documents.
On December 5, 2019, Justice Mohammad Idris had sentenced Udeogu to 10 years imprisonment while Kalu bagged 12 years imprisonment.
