The Deputy Speaker of Nigeria’s House of Representatives, Hon. Benjamin Okezie Kalu, is facing serious questions about the legitimacy of his legal qualifications and national service records, after a former senior official of the Nigerian Bar Association formally petitioned two regulatory bodies over alleged statutory violations.
The petitions, filed by former NBA First Vice President John Aikpokpo-Martins, were submitted to the Legal Practitioners’ Disciplinary Committee (LPDC) and the National Youth Service Corps (NYSC). They allege that Kalu simultaneously attended the Nigerian Law School in Enugu and participated in his mandatory NYSC service — an overlap the petitioner argues is legally impossible and potentially fraudulent.
According to documents made available to this newspaper, Kalu’s NYSC service is recorded as running from March 9, 2010, to March 8, 2011, while his Law School attendance ran from April 23, 2010, to July 1, 2011. Aikpokpo-Martins contends this overlap violates Section 2(3) of the NYSC Act, which requires corps members to serve a continuous, uninterrupted year of national service.
The matter is further complicated by a declaration Kalu allegedly made upon admission to the Nigerian Law School — under the name Benjamin Okezie Osisiogu — stating that he would neither take up employment nor participate in NYSC during the programme. Law School regulations also require full-time attendance, raising questions about whether Kalu met the mandatory 70% attendance threshold required for Bar certification. He was called to the Bar on September 6, 2011, and enrolled with Supreme Court number SCN/078630.
Aikpokpo-Martins has urged the LPDC to open a formal investigation and, if the allegations are upheld, apply sanctions under Section 11(1)(c) of the Legal Practitioners Act. He has simultaneously called on the NYSC Director-General to revoke Kalu’s Certificate of National Service (No. A001773067) and initiate prosecution under Sections 13(1)(b), 13(3), and 13(4) of the NYSC Act, which prescribe penalties for failure to complete continuous service or for making false declarations. The petitioner has also indicated plans to subpoena supporting records from both institutions, including attendance logs, call-up letters, payment receipts, and discharge documents.
Legal professionals following the matter have urged caution, emphasising that the allegations, while serious, remain unproven until formally examined by the relevant authorities. The NYSC and the LPDC had not confirmed the commencement of any investigation at the time of publication, and Deputy Speaker Kalu had yet to issue any public statement in response.
The case is nonetheless drawing significant attention within Nigeria’s legal and political circles, with many observers noting that its outcome could have far-reaching implications for standards of professional integrity and statutory compliance among the country’s public officeholders.
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