N7.1bn: Why FG can’t retry Orji Uzor Kalu, Justice Inyang rules

Orji Uzor Kalu

The Federal Government has been restricted from retrying the former Governor of Abia State, Orji Uzor Kalu, on the N7.1billion money laundering charge the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC.

A Federal High Court sitting  in Abuja on Wednesday, in a judgement, that was delivered by Justice Inyang Ekwo, held that the Supreme Court did not in the verdict it gave on May 8, 2020, order the retrial of either Kalu or his firm, Slok Nigeria Limited.

Justice Ekwo held that the Supreme Court only ordered the retrial of former Director of Finance in Abia State, Jones Udeogu, who was the Appellant before it.

Consequently, he upheld a suit Kalu filed to challenge the legal propriety of his planned re-arraingment by the EFCC.

Kalu had in the Application which he filed through his team of lawyers  by Chief Awa Kalu, SAN, argued that allowing the EFCC to try him afresh on the charge and same facts upon which he was earlier convicted and sentenced on December 5, 2019, would amount to suffer a “double jeopardy”.