HOUSE of Representatives Speaker Femi Gbajabiamila has said prison experience for any politician is a “badge of honour”.

The Speaker, who was represented by Deputy Speaker Ahmed Idris Wase, spoke when he led Principal Officers of the House on a visit to Senate Chief Whip Orji Uzor Kalu, who was recently released from the Nigeria Correctional Centre in Kuje, Abuja.

Wase said the leadership of the House was in Kalu’s home to sympathise with him over his incarceration.

The Deputy Speaker urged the former Abia State governor to take his experience as a life’s lesson and put everything before God.

He said: “We are here to sympathise with you on what happened and your incarceration. As a politician, I want you to take it as one of those things.

“First, we congratulate you and urge you to put everything before God and believe it is part of destiny.

“My Leader, the late Chief Solomon Lar, told me not to fear, as a politician, to go to prison. He told me that going to prison is a badge of honour.

“If you are a good politician, you should be willing to taste prison experience because it will come to you in very many dimensions.

“That happened to us sometime in the past when we were being chased and humiliated, and he asked us to be resolute and face the issues as they were.

“He reminded us of how he was sentenced to over 90 to 150 years in prison. He told us that as leaders, there is always a judgment that could be passed.

“As our leader, we want you to appreciate what God has done for you; use it for the positive development of our country’s judicial system; use it in the interest of humanity.”