Legal Status Profiles

Records

Orji Uzor Kalu

Nigerian politician and senator for Abia North who was Governor of Abia State from 1999 to 2007, and whose 2019 fraud conviction was nullified by the Supreme Court in 2020.

ClosedLatest source dated 2024-03-06Last reviewed 2026-10-26

What is Orji Uzor Kalu’s legal position?

EFCC prosecution over alleged N7.1bn–N7.65bn fraud on Abia State funds (with Slok Nigeria Ltd and Ude Udeogu)

Closed

Current position. There is no subsisting conviction; the Federal High Court order barring a retrial stands after the Court of Appeal struck out the government's appeals in March 2024, and no further appeal was found in the sources read.[1, 2, 3, 4, 5]

Authority
Federal High Court, Abuja; Supreme Court of Nigeria; Court of Appeal, Abuja; prosecuted by the EFCC
Status date
2024-03-06

History

  1. 2007 Charge FHC/ABJ/CR/56/2007 filed by the EFCC at the Federal High Court.
  2. 2019-12-05 Federal High Court (Justice Mohammed Idris) convicted him and sentenced him to 12 years; co-defendant Ude Udeogu sentenced to 10 years.
  3. 2020-05-08 Supreme Court declared the trial a nullity because the trial judge had already been elevated to the Court of Appeal, and held the section 396(7) ACJA fiat unconstitutional; matter remitted for reassignment.
  4. 2020-06-02 Released from Kuje Correctional Centre, Abuja.
  5. 2021-09 Federal High Court (Justice Inyang Ekwo) barred the EFCC from retrying him on FHC/ABJ/CR/56/2007, holding the Supreme Court judgment contained no retrial order for him.
  6. 2024-03-06 Court of Appeal struck out the Federal Government's appeals (CA/ABJ/CV/797/2021 and CA/ABJ/CV/798/2021) against the Ekwo ruling because the record of appeal was not properly compiled or certified.

Sources

  1. Supreme Court nullifies corruption trial and conviction of ex-Governor Orji Uzor KaluPolicy and Legal Advocacy Centre (PLAC Legist), 2020-05-13, secondary source
  2. Orji Kalu will face immediate retrial, says EFCCTheCable, 2020-05, secondary source
  3. After more than 150 days in prison, Kalu returns as Senate Chief WhipICIR, 2020-06-09, secondary source
  4. Court bars EFCC from retrying Orji Kalu on N7.1bn money laundering chargeICIR, 2021-09-29, secondary source
  5. Appeal court rejects FG's bid to retry Orji Kalu fraud caseICIR, 2024-03-06, secondary source

Change history

  • 2026-10-26 Record published.

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