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Senator representing Abia North, Orji Uzor Kalu regained his freedom following a supreme court judgement nullifying his conviction and issued an order of fresh trial on Friday.
Kalu, and others, were in December convicted and sentenced by Justice Mohammed Idris of the Federal High Court in Lagos for a N7.1bn fraud.
The judge had sentenced the ex-governor to 12 years imprisonment for the fraud he allegedly perpetrated during his tenure as Abia State governor.
But Justice Olabode Rhodes-Vivour, who led a seven-man panel of justices of the apex court, in a unanimous decision, held that the Federal High Court in Lagos lacked the jurisdiction when it convicted Kalu, his firm, Slok Nigeria Limited, and former Director of Finance in Abia State, Jones Udeogu.
The supreme court nullified the judgement on the grounds that trial judge, Justice Mohammed Liman, was no longer a judge of the Federal High Court as at the time he sat and delivered the judgment that convicted the defendants for allegedly stealing about N7.1bn from Abia State treasury.
According to The Punch, Justice Ejembi Eko, who delivered the lead judgment also declared as unconstitutional the provision of section 396(7) of the Administration of Criminal Justice Act, 2015, on which the then President of the Court of Appeal, Justice Zainab Bulkachuwa (retd), relied on to authorise Justice Idris to return to the Court of Appeal to conclude the trial.
The panel unanimously directed the Chief Judge of the Federal High Court to assign the case to another judge of the court for the trial to commence afresh.
