Orji Uzor Kalu

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.

Orji Uzor Kalu contested in the 2019 Nigerian general election to represent the people of Abia North in the senate, running under the banner of All Progressives Congress. He defeated the incumbent senator Mao Ohuabunwa with over 10,000 votes.

Kalu was convicted by the Lagos Division of the Federal High Court on Thursday, December 5, 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 8 years using his company, Slok Nigeria Limited. Days after the court ordered the forfeiture of the company, Nigeria anti graft agency, Ecominic 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 December 23, 2019 the court rejected his bail application for lack of merit.

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.

On July 11, 2007, Kalu was arrested by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission on charges of corruption while serving as the governor of Abia State. He was later released on bail, and accused the Obasanjo regime of persecuting him during and after his tenure in office, an accusation mentioned by former U.S. Ambassador to Nigeria John Campbell in his book, "Nigeria: Dancing on the Brink."

Kalu is the chairman of the Daily Sun, a Nigerian daily print newspaper founded and published in Ikeja, Lagos, Nigeria. The newspaper had a daily circulation of 130,000 copies as of 2011, and 135,000 for weekend titles, with an average of 80% sales. The Daily Sun was the highest selling newspaper in Nigeria. The Daily Sun was incorporated on March 29, 2001, and began production as a weekly on January 18, 2003, and as a daily on June 16, 2003. The newspaper is similar in format to The Sun in the United Kingdom.

Kalu married Ms. Ifeoma Ada Menakaya in December 1989, and they got married in his hometown of Igbere, Abia State. He has four children namely: Neya Lawrence Iyere nee Orji Uzor Kalu, Michael Uzor Kalu, Olivia Uzor Kalu and Nicole Uzor Kalu.

Kalu became the youngest Nigerian to receive the National Merit Award from President Ibrahim Babangida, at the age of 26 in 1986. He was selected as the Nigerian Chamber of Commerce's Industrialist of the Year, and awarded the Humanitarian Award of the University of Nigeria, Nsukka's Humanitarian Club, the Volunteer Award of the International Association of Volunteers, the National Merit Award, the EU Special Award in Brussels, and the World Bank Leon Sullivan Award.

Orji Uzor Kalu (born 21 April,1960) is a Nigerian Politician and businessperson. He is the chairman of SLOK Holding and the Daily Sun and New Telegraph newspapers in Nigeria, who served as the Governor of Abia State, Nigeria from May 29, 1999, to May 29, 2007. Prior to his election, he served as the chairman of the Borno Water Board and the chairman of the Cooperative and Commerce Bank Limited. Kalu was also a member of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Progressive Peoples Alliance (PPA) and the chairman of the PPA Board of Trustees. He was the party's presidential candidate in the April 2007 general election. He is currently a member of the ruling All Progressive Congress (APC) after he officially announced his resignation as the PPA BOT chair.