Orji Kalu for immediate retrial – EFCC

• Describes Supreme Court ruling as technical ambush

The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) has said that Senator Orji Kalu, whose conviction and 12-imprisonment for stealing N7.1 billion from Abia State treasury when he  was governor in the state, quashed by the Supreme Court on Friday, will face immediate retrial.

The Supreme Court ordered retrial of the case on the ground that Justice Mohammed Liman was no longer a Judge in the Federal High Court at the time he handled the case.

Justice Mohammed Idris, who had been elevated to the Court of Appeal bench, had returned to the Federal High Court in Lagos to complete the case which started in 2007.

EFCC, in a statement by Head, Media and Publicity, Dele Oyewale, described the apex court’s verdict as unfortunate.

According to the commission, the ruling was a “technical ambush against the trial of the former governor.”

The statement reads: ” The attention of the Economic And Financial Crimes Commission,  EFCC,  has been drawn to the judgment of the Supreme Court nullifying the trial of a former governor of Abia State,  Orji Kalu ,  his firm,  Slok Nigeria Limited and Jones Udeogu, a former Director of Finance and Account of Abia State Government and ordering their fresh trial at the lower court.

“The apex court based its verdict  on the grounds that Justice Mohammed Idris, who convicted Kalu and others had been elevated to the Court of Appeal before the judgment and returned to the lower court to deliver the judgment which it considered as illegal.