Going To Prison Is Politicians’ Mark Of Honour - Gbajabiamila Tells Orji Kalu

The Speaker of the House of Representatives, Hon. Femi Gbajabiamila has posited that prison experience for any politician is a “badge of honour”.

AllNews had reported that Federal High Court in Lagos last week ordered the release of Senator Orji Uzor Kalu from the Correctional Centre. This was after the Supreme Court in Nigeria nullified the conviction of Kalu and ordered the Chief Judge of the Federal High Court to reassign the case for a fresh trial.

The former Abia governor was convicted by the Lagos Division of the Federal High Court on Thursday, December 5, 2019, and sentenced to 12 years in prison for N7.65 billion fraud. He was convicted for defrauding the government of Abia State where he was a governor for 8 years using his company, Slok Nigeria Limited.

The Speaker, who was represented by Deputy Speaker Ahmed Idris Wase, spoke when he led Principal Officers of the House on a visit to the Senate Chief Whip, Orji Uzor Kalu, who was recently released from the Nigeria Correctional Centre in Kuje, Abuja.

He said the leadership of the House was in Kalu’s home to sympathise with him over his incarceration and urged the former Abia State governor to take his experience as a life’s lesson and put everything before God.

Wase said: “We are here to sympathise with you on what happened and your incarceration. As a politician, I want you to take it as one of those things.

“First, we congratulate you and urge you to put everything before God and believe it is part of destiny.

“My Leader, the late Chief Solomon Lar, told me not to fear, as a politician, to go to prison. He told me that going to prison is a badge of honour.

“If you are a good politician, you should be willing to taste prison experience because it will come to you in very many dimensions.

“That happened to us sometime in the past when we were being chased and humiliated, and he asked us to be resolute and face the issues as they were.

“He reminded us of how he was sentenced to over 90 to 150 years in prison. He told us that as leaders, there is always a judgment that could be passed.

“As our leader, we want you to appreciate what God has done for you; use it for the positive development of our country’s judicial system; use it in the interest of humanity.”