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Former Abia Governor, Orji Kalu, Other Political Looters Should Be In Jail, Ohanaeze Youths Challenge Anti-graft Agency, EFCC

OYC urged the anti-graft agency to revisit the N7.1 billion money laundering case against former Governor of Abia State, Orji Kalu.

The Ohanaeze Youth Council (OYC), has urged President Muhammadu Buhari and the Economic and Financial Crime Commission (EFCC) to ensure the prosecution of political looters in the country.
 
The Igbo youth group, in a statement on Tuesday, urged the anti-graft agency to revisit the N7.1 billion money laundering case against former Governor of Abia State, Orji Kalu.

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Addressing journalists in Abuja, shortly after the court remanded Governor Rochas Okorocha on five counts bordering on 1.2 billion fraud and money laundering, Igboayaka O. Igboayaka, the National President of the OYC, urged President Buhari to launch "Operation Financial Crime clean-up" in Nigeria and subsequently jail all political looters in the country before he leaves office in 2023.
 
Igboayaka, who bemoaned the rate of impunity among political office holders, said "criminals ought to pay for their crimes".
 
According to him, corrupt politicians who are guilty of embezzlement and all other forms of misappropriation of public funds amid impunity are like the regular fully armed criminals who steal without minding the consequences of their crime.
 
The Igbo youth organisation explained that part of the reasons for the agitation by pro-Biafran groups is because Igbo governors looted the local government funds meant for rural development in 1999 and left the people in abject penury.
 
According to the group, "a government that is devoid of corruption is that government that has outright, zero tolerance for crime and criminality, irrespective of whose 'ox is gored'".
He said: "The likes of Orji Uzor Kalu are the reason for unemployment, poverty and insecurity in Southeast. The evidence of what is happening in the East today is the remote cause of Orji Uzor Kalu maladministration. There's no doubt that Abia State is the most backward state in the Southeast, courtesy of Orji Uzor Kalu."
 
Furthermore, Igboayaka asked the EFCC under the leadership of its former chairman, Ibrahim Magu to explain to Nigerians how Orji Uzor Kalu was released from jail, stressing the principle and ethics of EFCC were compromised.
 
"We can't continue to live in a country of drama over serious matters treated with levity. It's a truism that Senator Orji Uzor Kalu was facing a trial with two others on alleged 1.7bn fraud, yet the case was swept under the carpet.
 
"Unfortunately, we're living in a country where few individuals have looted the economic life-span of Nigeria yet they move freely in public places. In a sane civil society, the likes of Orji Uzor Kalu shouldn't be walking freely, after being found guilty of mismanagement of Abia State local government funds.
 
"I, therefore, call on Abdulrasheed Bawa the fourth respected Executive Chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, to quickly revisit Senator Orji Uzor Kalu's N7.1 billion fraud to give justice a face of justice.
 
"With the greed and primitive looting that characterized the person of Orji Uzor Kalu, I urge Abdulrasheed Bawa to undergo a fresh financial investigation on the past financial activities of Abia State under the then leadership of Senator Orji Uzor Kalu beginning from 1999 to 2007 when he was the governor of Abia.
 
“I also appeal to President Mohammadu Buhari to keep a lasting historical legacy by jailing all political criminals in Nigeria,” Igboayaka added.

Topics
Corruption