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The Senate Chief Whip, Orji Kalu, Saturday, stunned his colleagues when he broke down in tears at the upper legislative chamber’s valedictory session in Abuja.

The former Abia State governor, who addressed the lawmakers on the floor of the Senate, defended his record in the last 24 years and insisted that he was not a thief.

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Declaring the session open at 10.59 am, the President of the Senate, Senator Ahmad Lawan said that the session was a special one against the backdrop that it would be used by the Senators to make remarks on the journey that started on 11th June 2019 and ended today.

Leading the presentation, the Deputy Senate President, Senator Ovie Omo-Agege, APC, Delta Central who urged the returning Senators to support the incoming leaders of the Senate to achieve good governance, said that he is satisfied with his conscience that the 9th Senate returned the annual budgeting cycles from January to December, passed the Petroleum Industry Act and ensured that the Electoral Act 2023 is there for the conduct of credible elections.

In his remarks, Vice President Kashim Shettima, APC, Borno Central told the Senators- elect to have in their minds that the stability of Nigeria was greater than the stability of their pockets and asked them to vote wisely during the election of Presiding officers for the progress of the country.

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Shettima said, “As we bid farewell to this chapter, let us remember that our journey has just begun. For some of us, a new chapter beckons. As the mantle of leadership passes into fresh hands, those who will continue this noble calling, I extend my sincere congratulations.

“To my colleagues who will depart this chamber, I address you not as colleagues left behind, but as friends who have become an integral part of my history.

“We have served shoulder to shoulder in the face of adversity and worked relentlessly for the betterment of our nation.

“To my incoming colleagues, I will leave you with a parable, ‘the stability of this nation is superior to the stability of our pockets’. On Tuesday, let us vote wisely, let us vote for the Nigerian nation.”

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When it was time for him to speak, the Senate Whip and former Governor of Abia State, Senator Orji Uzor Kalu, APC, Abia North who noted that his remarks would be a little bit emotional, wept while speaking, narrating how has been treated politically, especially by those he helped build and the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP that he spent his money to nurture.

Kalu lamented that he was labeled a thief by his opponents following his conviction for money laundering by a court four years ago.

He also recalled his role in the formation of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in 1998.

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Kalu who started weeping at 1.19 pm, said” “Before I came into politics, I could buy anything money can buy. I’m not a thief. Those that put me in prison know the reason. They took over my businesses and wanted to kill me yet I survived it and I’m in the senate with you.

“I have never lacked, while I was in the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) where I served for two terms as governor, I brought the money that they used in forming that party, every penny, in 1997 and 1998, and I later became a thief”.

The Federal High Court, Abuja, sentenced the former governor to 12 years imprisonment over the alleged diversion of N7.1 billion from the Abia State coffers on December 5, 2019.

However, the Supreme Court in a ruling delivered in May 2020 quashed Kalu’s conviction and ordered the trial to start afresh.

He is currently vying for the Senate president despite the All Progressives Congress (APC)’s nomination of former Minister of Niger Delta, Godswill Akpabio, for the position.

Ripples/Vanguard