Orji Kalu shares lessons learned during detention in Kuje Prisons

The Chief Whip of the Senate, Orji Uzor Kalu on Sunday, detailed the lessons learned during his time in detention at the Kuje Correctional Facility over alleged fraud while serving as governor of Abia State.

Ripples Nigeria had reported that Kalu was convicted by the Lagos Division of the Federal High Court on December 5, 2019, and sentenced to 12 years in prison over alleged N7.65 billion misappropriation.

However, Justice Mohammed Liman of the Lagos Division of the Federal High Court on June 2, 2020, ordered the former governor’s release, leading to his freedom after six months.

In a statement via his verified Facebook page on Sunday, Kalu said his perception of life changed while in the prison.

According to him, he had to imbibe the act of forgiving his enemies in order to be a better person.

The statement reads in part, “My dear friends and compatriots, I am grateful to God for the six months I spent in Kuje; He sanctioned it. God knows I fear no one except Him.

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“Those who conspired against me wanted me buried at all cost, but like the biblical Job, there is a sense in which God allowed those temporary and tragic events to happen to Job.

“My perception of life changed after the six months of incarceration – life is vanity. I did not just learn a lot of lessons, I became a reformed and better man. I was very impacted by what happened to me. More than ever, I have relearned that kindness and forgiveness are what should rule the world, not wickedness.

“I have since forgiven all the people that were instrumental to my ordeal. I forgive them because they probably did not know what they were doing.

“I recall that on the first night I slept in the prison, I was questioning God. On the third day, God told me He allowed me to be imprisoned for a purpose and for a short time. I vividly recall I was scheduled to be in Wuhan, China on December 9, 2019, but my incarceration halted my journey”.

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