<p>Former Governor of Abia State, Dr. Orji Uzor Kalu, said he spent his personal money to run the state for six months even as he has denied allegations that he stole N7.2 billion while at the helm of affairs of the state between 1999 and 2007 as the state has no such funds then.</p>



<p> ;  ;  ;
The former ; Governor made this known in his continuation of ; his
testimony before ; a Federal High Court in Lagos south west Nigeria ;
to prove his innocence of the allegation of N7.2billion level against him by
the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC).</p>



<p> ;  ; The
former Governor while responding to a question from his lawyer, Prof. Awa Kalu
(SAN) over the allegation, disclosed that there was no way he could stole what
was not ; in existence. ;</p>



<p>&#8220;Abia State
doesn&#8217;t have such money ; Even the day I was leaving the office ,the
state. ; borrowed money to pay salaries. Abia State doesn&#8217;t have even a
billion naira in any account at the time I was governor,&#8221; he said. ;</p>



<p> ;  ;To back
up his denial of the allegations, the former governor who is currently the Senate
Chief Whip  ;also spoke about the
difficulties he encountered in running the State with allocations from Federal
government. </p>



<p>&#8220;The monthly
allocation of Abia State when I took over in June 1999 was N168 million. It was
averaging between N168 million and N172 million monthly. The first month that I
came in, there was even no money to buy diesel. I spent my own money to run the
state for six months. ;</p>



<p>&#8220;In the year
2000, monthly allocation was between N170 million and N189 million. In 2001, it
came to about N302 million to about N380 million. I can recollect in 2002, it
was almost the same and in 2003 when the revenue allocation was changed, we
were having about N400 million.</p>



<p>&#8220;The highest
money I got as Governor came from 2004 when we had about N1 billion and from
that time up till May 2007 before I left, what we had was N1.6 billion. ;</p>



<p>&#8220;Throughout my
stay in office, I never owed workers and pensioners. When I took over as
Governor and before I left, we moved it up to N500 million. It was from this
that we were able to do a lot of things&#8221;. ;</p>



<p> ;  ; Dr Kalu
had earlier in his evidence told the court that he was a successful businessman
before venturing into politics. ;</p>



<p>Speaking on his line
of businesses before he began his political journey, he narrated graphically  ;&#8220;I was running a group of companies under
Slok Nigeria Ltd and I have a big furniture factory in Maiduguri. I was also
trading in cows. The cows were coming from Chad to Umuahia. I also had a
veritable oil factory in Aba supplying to people in Kano and Maiduguri. ;</p>



<p>&#8220;I was also into
shipping activities with major oil companies. We also have a very big corn farm
in the East and Bauchi. ;</p>



<p>&#8220;We were ;
major shareholder before another shareholder bought off First Bank. In 1994,
the then Hallmark Bank had a problem and I later bought majority stake in the
bank. We also had major interests in Banks in DR Congo Gambia, Sierra Leone,
Liberia and the then Sudan before crisis set in&#8221;.</p>



<p>The former Governor
also disclosed that he also deals in buying and selling of property. ;</p>



<p>He further disclosed
that he made all his statements to the EFCC under bad treatment from some
police officers. ;</p>



<p>&#8220;When I learnt
they were looking for me, I called Ibrahim Lamorde that I was in the United
States and that I will show up upon my return to the country. ;</p>



<p> ;  ;&#8221;
However when I returned to Nigeria, they were waiting for me at the airport and
whisked me away to their office, after I was beating up thoroughly by police
officers, I asked them what was my offence and they told me I have been
insulting President Obasanjo. Mallam Nuhu Ribadu and Ibrahim Lamorde later came
to apologize to me&#8221;. ;</p>



<p> ;  ;The
presiding Judge Idris Mohammed has adjourned till tomorrow, August 30, for
continuation of hearing.</p>

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