Orji Kalu: Is this end of ACJA 2015?
hen, last December 5, the Correctional Services wardens led Orji Kalu to the temporary cell on the Federal High Court, Lagos premises minutes after his sentence to 12 years imprisonment for fraud, he smiled at reporters taking his pictures and said, “2023, here we come.”
The trio was prosecuted by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission for N7.65 billion fraud committed during his tenure as Abia State governor between 1999 and 2007. The Supreme Court, also declared as unconstitutional, Section 396 of the Administration of Criminal Justice Act 2015, under which Appeal Court Justices had been permitted to return to the high court to continue handling the cases they didn’t complete before their elevation.
She said she had issued fiats 50 times to about eight Justices of the Court of Appeal, including Justice Mohammed Idris, to enable them to conclude part-heard cases. “Similarly, Justice Talba, and Justice Umar, Justice Ojo from the FCT High Court; and from the Federal High Court were Justices Idris, Justice Aliyu, I think about five of them from there, who have completed matters”, Bulkachuwa said in Abuja at a national workshop organised by the Centre for Socio-Legal Studies in collaboration with Federal Ministry of Justice.
Section 239: “The Court of Appeal shall be duly constituted if it consists of at least three Justices of the Court of Appeal; The trial judge, Justice J. Bello, then of the Federal High Court, Abuja held that there was no merit in any of the grounds. A member of Kalu’s legal team Gordy Uche wrote to the Court of Appeal President on June 26, 2018 to grant Justice Idris fiat to conclude the case.The same defence team later filed another application asking Justice Idris to recuse himself on the ground that Justice Idris lacked jurisdiction to continue to adjudicate on the case.
“I contended that section 396 of the ACJA which permits a high court Judge elevated to the court of appeal to continue with and conclude a part heard matter was in gross conflict with the provisions of sections 1, 1, 238, 239, 240, 250 and 253 of the 1999 Constitution, and therefore liable to be struck down.
Justice Idris, who is usually known for always erring on the side of caution , dismissed the application and continued to hear the case. The EFCC was the 1st respondent, Kalu was the 2nd respondent while Slok Nigeria Limited was the 3rd respondent.
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