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Nigeria: Kalu Gets Court Nod to Travel Abroad for Medical Treatment
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Vanguard (Lagos)
13 June 2008
Posted to the web 13 June 2008
Ise-Oluwa Ige
Lagos
A Federal high court sitting in Abuja yesterday granted the immediate past Governor of Abia State, Dr Orji Uzor Kalu a conditional permission to travel out of the country for three weeks.
That was after the court ordered the Chief Registrar of the Federal high court to release all necessary travel documents including the international passports earlier seized from Kalu as part of the conditions for granting him bail.
The ex-governor who is standing trial over allegation of siphoning over N3.1billion meant for the welfare of Abia residents while he held office is expected to use the period to receive an alleged overdue medical attention overseas and visit his family members resident in the United States.
The permission to travel abroad for the three weeks would start counting from June 16, this year, the judge said yesterday.
But he said that if the travel documents already in the custody of the court had expired necessitating the delay of his traveling beyond June 16, he said Kalu was at liberty to approach the court for extension of the time.
Justice Bello however held yesterday that the release of Kalu's travel documents was dependent on fulfillment of certain conditions.
He said that two eminent Nigerians including serving Senator Uche Chukwumerije and a former minister, Onyia Dubiem who earlier stood sureties for him must give their consent to his plan to travel abroad.
Besides, the judge said that the duo must also enter into a separate written undertakings which must be submitted to court to the effect that they would forfeit their bail bond with the court and go to jail in place of Kalu if he decided not to come back from USA to face his trial.
The judge granted Kalu's request yesterday after he disagreed with the EFCC that the ex-governor should not be allowed to travel out of the country on the account that he never gave cogent and sufficient reasons.
He said that he would not be dragged into an allegation by the EFCC that the documents Kalu attached to his application for release of his travel documents were suspect.
He said he would give him the benefit of the doubt that all the documents were genuine.
Besides, Justice Bello said that he would not use the same standard for granting of bail to determine Kalu's application to travel out of the country as canvassed by the EFCC.
According to him, Kalu was already on bail and had satisfied all the five major bail conditions including provision of eminent Nigerians as sureties.
He said that all Kalu requested for was the variation of only one of the five conditions of his bail.
The judge who said that he appreciated the concern of the prosecution to the effect that Kalu's prosecution should start almost immediately said he would only allow him travel out of jurisdiction for only three weeks as against the one month he sought for.
He said he decided to grant him permission to travel out of the country on conditions to enable him face his trial.
But Kalu said if anybody would jump bail, he said it could never be him.
He said he is a politician committed to ensuring that the nation is never again ruled by fools and that he has no plan to run away from the country or his trial.
In fact, he told newsmen yesterday that if at all he has any plan, he said it is to face the EFCC frontally to prove his innocence of the charge preferred against him.
He though expressed reservation over the tacit removal of Nuhu Ribadu as EFCC boss but he later said that Nuhu did not use his position to do his job well.
Ex-Governor Kalu, Vanguard recalls, has been battling with a chronic asthma in the last 20 years.
According to him, a specialized hospital in the United States has been maintaining the ailment for him for over a decade, saying "the records are there."
He said he, as a matter of necessity, visits the US at least four times in a year for medical check up over the ailment even while he was the governor of Abia state.
He said that he had defaulted more than four times now and that the ailment was already affecting him seriously.
He said that because of his inability to visit the US in the last 11 months, he said his sleeping pattern had already been altered.
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But reprieve came his way yesterday.
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