Members of the Save Nigerian Citizens Development and Empowerment Initiatives, on Tuesday, called on the President of the Senate, Ahmad Lawan, to declare the Abia North Senatorial District’s seat vacant due to the incarceration of Senator Orji Kalu.
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Recall that Kalu was, on December 5, 2019, jailed for 12 years by a Federal High Court, having been convicted of N7.2bn fraud, when he was Abia State governor between 1999 and 2003.
He, has, however, appealed the court’s verdict.
Ambassador Chikoje Okoro, who addressed journalists on behalf of the group in Abuja, lamented that the people of Kalu’s senatorial district had remained without a voice in the 9th Senate due to his incarceration, saying the development was not fair to them.
He said, “While we agree that the convicted former governor has the constitutional right to appeal the judgment, we urge the President of the Senate, Senator Ahmad Lawan, to declare the seat of Abia North in the Senate vacant.
“The people of Abia North have remained without a voice in the 9th Senate for over 10 months now and we believe that this is unfair to our people and the state.
“We also call on INEC to consider a new date for a fresh election for Abia North senatorial district. We need a voice as a people in the Senate, and we urge Chief Kalu to honourably resign his job to pave the way for a rerun.”
Okoro called on the Court of Appeal to give accelerated hearing to Kalu’s appeal, while expressing worry that the case had yet to be mentioned in court after two months.
The SNCDEI representative called on the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission to investigate the implementation of federal lawmakers’ constituency projects across the country.
He said, “Our preliminary investigation as an organisation showed that the so-called constituency projects have remained avenue for money-making for some lawmakers and their cohorts.”
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