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Amid criticisms against their counterparts in the senate, some principal officers of the House of Representatives, led by Deputy Speaker, Idris Wase paid a solidarity visit to Abia North Senate Representative, Orji Uzor Kalu who was recently released from Kuje prison in Abuja.
The Senate was heavily condemned by many, after some principal officers of the Upper Chamber, led by Senate president, Ahmad Lawan, paid a similar visit to the former governor.
MERIDIAN SPY reported days ago the Centre for Anti-Corruption and Open Leadership (CACOL), in a joint statement by its Coordinator, Administration and Programmes, Tola Oresanwo and Chairman of CACOL, Mr Debo Adeniran, described the visit by the senate delegation headed by the Senate President as “a charade, travesty and a mockery on the intelligence of common Nigerians”.
“It shows that despite the horrible situation the country has found herself, due principally to good leadership that has eluded the country from independence, the leadership of the Senate are not bothered by the menace of corruption that has stagnated the destiny of this great country,” it stated.
“By their action, they have brought Nigeria to the spotlight again as a country whose leaders does not only celebrate corruption but are ‘fantastically corrupt” thereby making Nigeria a laughing stock among the comity of nations’.
However, at his residence on Monday, Wase told the Senate Chief Whip that they had come to sympathise with him on his experience in prison.
The Deputy Speaker told the former Abia governor to see his conviction and jail term as “one of those things”, and that such an experience is a badge of honour for politicians.
“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,” he said.
“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 judgement 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.”
Kalu, a former governor of Abia State who was released from prison in June, was convicted by a Federal High Court in Lagos.
He was convicted for money laundering to the tune of N7.65 billion and was jailed in December, but the supreme court nullified his conviction and ordered a fresh trial.
