The Chief Whip of the Senate, Senator Orji Uzor Kalu, resumed normal legislative duties at the National Assembly complex on Tuesday, following his release after over six months of incarceration at the Kuje Correctional Centre.
EyewitnessMedia gathered that the former governor of Abia State arrived at the Senate wing of the nation’s parliament at exactly 9:00 am.
He exchanged pleasantries with his colleagues and acknowledged greetings from legislative staff and security operatives.
Speaking with journalists on arrival at the entrance to the Senate chamber, Kalu described his experience as a good one.
He said, “I just want to thank God for everything that has happened. It is the will of God. I want to urge Nigerians to keep hope alive.”
The Senator and others, were in December last year, convicted and sentenced for N7.1bn fraud.
Justice Mohammed Idris, who was elevated to the Court of Appeal bench, had returned to the Federal High Court in Lagos to complete the case, which started in 2007.
However, the Supreme Court, in a unanimous decision by a seven-member panel led by Justice Amina Augie, on May 8 this year, held that the Federal High Court in Lagos acted without jurisdiction when it convicted Kalu, his firm, Slok Nigeria Limited and a former Director of Finance in Abia State, Jones Udeogu, in December last year.