Charles Ajunwa
The Chairman Senate Committee on Privatisation, Senator Theodore Orji, has asked a former Commissioner for Finance in Abia State, Ude Udeogo, to leave him out of his N7.2bn fraud case brought against him and a former governor of the state by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), in a Federal High Court in Lagos.
Senator Orji in a statement signed by his Legislative/Media Aide, Chief Eddie Onuzuruike, said that Udeogo’s claim that “Theodore Orji, ex-gov Kalu’s Chief of Staff determined who gets what” was “desperate denial and blackmail”.
The statement partly read: “The above claims from Udeogu, the former director of finance in Abia State sounds funny. It is unheard of and smacks of baselessness that a Chief of Staff calls all the shots in financial issues as Udeogu claimed. It is rather a tale better told to the maroons. Is Kalu the type to allow one such leverage in money matters. According to Udeogu, ‘According to civil service rules, nobody can by-pass the Chief of Staff to see or take orders from the governor. All the directors took orders from the Chief of Staff, heads took orders from their various directors and it was only the Chief of Staff that gave approval for who got what from the Government House bank accounts. My duty then was just to work out release of funds in any form either by cash or cheque from the accounts.’
“This sounds very funny. The over 360 past and present governors in Nigerian states and their deputies can testify that Udeogu’s claim is a desperate denial and blackmail. Udeogu can equally say that T.A. Orji usurped power in Abia State and probably as O.U.K was incapacitated. Much would have been said here but the case is in the court as we do not want to be accused of contempt of court, a very serious legal aberration. Let the truth be told that Senator Orji as COS to Kalu from 1999 to 2007 carried out his duties creditably in cases referred to him by the governor.
“It is impossible for T.A. Orji to have taken financial decisions. Kalu, a self-acclaimed master strategist presided over the Abia State Executive Council and unilaterally took all the financial decisions. They should face the case and leave Senator T.A. Orji alone to carry out his national duties at the Senate.”
