Justice Inyang Ekwo stopped the retrial after Kalu filed an application against it, saying it would amount to double jeopardy.

Ekwo who however ordered the retrial of former Commissioner of Finance, Jones Udeogu, who was convicted alongside the former Abia State Governor, held that there was no extant order that directed the retrial of Kalu and the judgment of the Supreme Court does not affect him.

The former Governor of Abia state who disclosed this in his newly released autobiography ‘My Life’,  traced the “plight of the Igbos” to the early 19th century when the British first explored the Lower Niger.

He said in the book “In January 1914, Lord Fredrick Lugard completed the amalgamation of the northern and southern protectorates into Colonial Nigeria and became its first Governor-General.  The Igbos did not have a say as to whether they desired to be a part of such a contraption or not. However, the clouds lifted so briefly and the Igbo enjoyed brief sunshine in Nigeria in the decade before and a few years after independence. Having embraced Christianity and western education with enthusiasm, they quickly rose to hold sway in the federal civil service, military, academia, commerce and industry. The ‘Jews’ of West Africa were on the march, toiling, sweating and swinging upwards, to the envy and hatred of their compatriots. I am not in politics because I want to make money from it. If that was the case, I would have remained with President (Olusegun) Obasanjo throughout our time in office because he controlled all the money.  But I needed honour for my people. He refused to honour and respect my people; he failed to give them a sense of belonging. He carried on as if he was still at war with the Igbo nation, hence we disagreed.”

Kalu disclosed this to newsmen after a private visit to former Military leaders, Ibrahim Badamasi Babangida and Abdulsalami Abubakar, in Minna, on Monday, August 31.

He said “I am still in the senate, and I will seek for re-election into the senate but if our people want me to serve as president I will not hesitate. Zoning is not a constitutional matter in APC. Any person can contest any post in APC.”

Prominent names on the list compiled in 2018 are former Governors, Orji Uzor Kalu (Abia), James Ibori (Delta}, Emmanuel Uduaghan (Delta) and Senator Peter Nwaoboshi.

While some of these politicians have denied benefitting from NDDC contracts, the commission however enjoined those whose names appeared in the list not to panic as it has been uncovered that some people used their names to get the jobs.

Charles Odili, NDDC’s director of corporate affairs also revealed that the list does not include a case of 250 contracts which were signed for and collected in one day by one person for members of the National Assembly.

Odili said “The Interim Management Committee of the commission stands by the list which came from files already in the possession of the forensic auditors. It is not an Akpabio list but the NDDC’s list; the list is part of the volume of 8,000 documents already handed over to the forensic auditors. Prominent indigenes of the Niger Delta whose names were on the list should not panic as the commission knew that people used the names of prominent persons in the region to secure contracts, and the ongoing forensic audit would unearth those behind the contracts. The intention of the list was to expose committee chairmen in the national assembly who used

In December 2019, Kalu was sentenced to 12 years in prison after he was convicted of N7.1bn fraud alongside his firm, Slok Nigeria Limited, and a former Director of Finance at the Abia State Government House, Jones Udeogu.

The Supreme court on May 8, 2020, nullified Kalu and Udeogo’s conviction on grounds that the presiding judge, Justice Mohammed Idris, lacked the jurisdiction to have presided over their case.

Kalu immediately approached the Federal High Court and filed an appeal for his release. The ruling was delivered today in his favor.

The former Governor was convicted and handed a prison sentence alongside Udeh Udeogu who served as Finance Commissioner during his administration.

The duo who however filed an appeal against the judgement, insisted that the federal high court in Lagos lacked the jurisdiction to try them because that was not where the offence was committed.

However the three man panel at the court of appeal in Abuja dismissed the appeal on grounds of lacking merit. Justice Olabisi Ige who delivered the lead judgement, stated that the complaint of the appellants is a non-issue as their right was not infringed.

Justice Mohammed Idris sentenced Kalu to 133 years imprisonment and Udeogu to 56 years imprisonment.  He ordered that Slok be wound up and its assets forfeited to the Federal Government.

Kalu, who is a senator on the ticket of the All Progressives Congress, was sentenced to five years each on counts 1 to 11, totalling 55 years; three years each on counts 23 to 33, totalling 30 years; and 12 years each on counts 34 to 38, totalling 48 years.

The sentences will run concurrently, meaning Kalu will only spend a maximum of 12 years in jail.