The All Progressives Congress (APC) has cleared Orji Uzor Kalu, former Governor of Abia State, to contest the party’s senatorial primary to represent Abia North at the National Assembly, ahead of the 2019 general election.
This was confirmed by Yekini Nabena, acting National Publicity Secretary of the party, in a statement on Tuesday evening.
The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) is on an 11-year-long prosecution of Kalu for alleged fraud totalling N7.1billion.
The commission is prosecuting Kalu, together with his former Commissioner for Finance, Ude Udeogo, and a company, Slok Nigeria Ltd, said to be owned by him.
In October 2016, EFCC preferred 34 counts charges, including a N3.2 billion fraud charge, against Kalu, but he and Udeogo pleaded not guilty to the charges and were granted bail. The following month, Kalu joined the ruling APC from the Progressive Peoples Alliance (PPA)
Cumulatively, in all the counts, the accused were alleged to have diverted over N7.1billion from the Abia State Government’s treasury, during Kalu’s tenure as Governor.