Kalu faces fresh trouble - As lawyers team up to drag him to court - For violating agreement on his bail

Idowu Samuel, Abuja - 20.01.2008

THE former governor of Abia State, Dr. Orji Uzor Kalu, may have romped himself into more trouble for allegedly violating the conditions for his bail. A group of Abuja based lawyers are already dusting their files to take him to court on that basis.

Kalu has been defending the allegation of corruption leveled against him by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) and had earlier been arrested and detained, although he fought to regain freedom by bail.

The former governor had appeared in court last Friday to defend the case against him, and had at the court premises called for sever sanction against former President Olusegun Obasanjo, whom he accused of using his position to corruptly enrich himself.

Kalu spoke with the media on Obasanjo after emerging from the court, and called on the Federal government to set up a strong panel of inquiry to probe the regime of the former president on alleged corruption with a view to bringing him to book.

However, an Abuja based lawyer, Barrister Kayode Ajulo, told Sunday Tribune that Kalu had violated the agreement he signed for his bail by making comments on issues not directly relating with his case, a situation which he described as diversionary.

He said he and his four other colleagues would proceed to the court next week to press more charges against Kalu, and then make him face the law for a breach of the law on his bail.

“He said, One of the inherent terms of any grant of bail is that the accused should not do or fail to do anything that will prejudice his prosecution.

“Orji Uzor Kalu’s statements at the court were nothing but sheer mischief and tactical attempt to derail the due administration of justice in a case he is a party as an accused person.

Ajulo said the lawyers involved in the plan to take Kalu to court again was not in anyway connected with his comment on Obasanjo but was rather hinged on the grandstanding by the former governor in which case he said he has been portraying himself as a saint.

He said Kalu rather than facing the allegations of corruption leveled against him by the federal government has been diverting attention from his case by making comments against other persons on corruption related issues.

According to him, “Even If Kalu that we know very well has godfathers within the government and with assurances that he would be let go on the charges preferred against him, we shall pursue his case to a logical conclusion and make sure that he proves to the world that he is a saint that he has been claiming to be”