Who is Orji Kalu? Biography, Wikipedia
Orji Uzor Kalu is a billionaire Nigerian politician who is also one of the richest politicians in Nigeria.
Age
Orji Kalu was born on April 21, 1960. He is currently 62 years old and will be 62-year-old by April 21, 2023.
Tribe
Orji Kalu is from Igbere, Abia State.
Family
Parents
Orji Kalu was born into the family of Mr. Johnson Uzor Nesiegbe Kalu and Mrs Eunice Kalu.
Wife
Kalu is married to Mrs Ifeoma Ada Menakaya. They tied the knot in December 1989 at his hometown of Igbere, Abia State.
Unfortunately, Ifeoma died on April 2023.
Children
Kalu and his late wife, Ifeoma, has four children, namely:
- Neya Uzor Kalu
- Michael Uzor Kalu
- Olivia Uzor Kalu
- Nicole Uzor Kalu
Education
He attended Christ the King School Aba and Government College Umuahia. After studying at Barewa College, Zaria, he enrolled in the University of Maiduguri where he studied political science.
During his time at the university, Kalu became a student activist, and participated in the “Ali Must Go” riots against the education minister.
His participation resulted in his suspension. While his fellow students later took the school authorities to court, Kalu left school to build his own business.
Kalu has a degree from Abia State University, a Certificate in Business Administration from Harvard University and honorary doctorates from Maiduguri and Abia State universities.
Career
Kalu headed First International Bank Limited at the age of 33.
He also stewarded Nigerian commercial relations with China’s SinoPacific Shipbuilding company while serving as a principal of SLOK Holding.
- 1999: He was elected as the Governor of Abia State on Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).
- 2003: He was re-elected as Governor.
- 2006: He left Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and found Progressive People’s Alliance (PPA).
- 2007: He contested for the Presidential Seat on the PPA platform.
- 2007: His corruption trial began, and he was arrested by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFFC) in 2007.
- 2011: He contested as the Abia North Senatorial candidate on the PPA platform.
- 2012: He re-joined the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).
- 2015: He later returned to Progressive People’s Alliance (PPA) to contest for the Senatorial Election.
- 2016: The Supreme court ruled that he should stand trial, this was nine years after his legal battle with the EFCC.
- 2016: He joined the All Progressives Congress (APC) political party.
- 2018: He was given the Title: Danbaiwan-Hausa (Gifted Son of Hausa kingdom) by the Emir of Daura in President Muhammadu Buhari’s hometown.
- 2019: He contested for the Abia State Senatorial Election and he won.
- 2019: He was convicted and jailed 12 years for corruption in December 2019.
- 2020: He was released from prison by the judgement of the Supreme Court who ruled on Friday, 8 May, that he was wrongfully convicted. The Supreme Court ordered a re-trial.
Net worth and source of wealth
Orji Kalu in 2015 was estimated by Forbes to be worth $330 million, making him one of Africa’s 50 richest men.
There has been no update on his wealth since then, but some online sources claim he is currently $1.1 billion and the 8th richest politician in Nigeria.
Source of wealth
Orji Uzor Kalu is the founder of Slok Holding, a West African conglomerate with interests in shipping, banking, oil trading, manufacturing, and the media.
He got his start in business at age 19 after being expelled from a Nigerian university for spearheading a series of student riots.
Orji borrowed $35 from his mother and started trading commodities like palm oil, rice, and sugar. He diversified into furniture manufacturing and transportation and became a millionaire by the time he was 20.
He hit the big time in the early 80s when the Nigerian military government awarded him lucrative contracts to import and supply arms and ammunition to Nigeria’s military and defense forces.
Controversy
Kalu was convicted by the Lagos Division of the Federal High Court on Thursday, 5 December 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 eight years using his company, Slok Nigeria Limited. Days after the court ordered the forfeiture of the company, Nigeria anti graft agency, Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC commenced the process of winding down Slok Nigeria Limited including The Sun Publishing Ltd which was not part of the charges.
Consequently, The Sun Publishing Ltd approached a High Court in Lagos for interpretation of the judgment that convicted Kalu and Slok Nigeria Limited asking the court to compel EFCC to stay away from The Sun Publishing Ltd since it was not part of the court case.
He was held in custody at the Ikoyi prisons in Lagos.
In December, Kalu filed a bail application at a Lagos High Court pending the determination of his appeal against his conviction. On 23 December 2019, the court rejected his bail application for lack of merit.
On Friday,8 May 2020, the Supreme Court of Nigeria ruled that his trial was wrongly conducted and released him from prison while ordering a retrial.
On Friday morning, the Supreme Court deemed Mr Kalu’s conviction inappropriate and ordered a retrial of the case, according to multiple media reports out of the court.
A seven-member panel of the apex court, in a unanimous verdict delivered by Justice Ejembi Eko, declared that the conviction null and void, Channels TV reported Friday.
According to the report, Justice Eko declared that Justice Mohammed Idris, who convicted Mr Kalu, had already become a justice of the Court of Appeal, when he ruled and sentenced Mr Kalu and his co-defendant as a trial judge.
He held that a Justice of the Court of Appeal cannot operate as a judge of the Federal High Court, and ordered the Chief Judge of the Federal High Court to reassign the case for trial. Kalu was released from the custody of the Nigerian Correctional Service Kuje on Wednesday, 3 June 2020.
Disclaimer
The information in this article was curated from online sources. All details cannot be independently verified by NewsWireNGR or its editorial team.
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