These are not the best of times for the Deputy Speaker of the House of Representatives, Hon. Benjamin Kalu following allegations levelled against him regarding his National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) certificate and Nigerian Law School records.
Trouble started when a former First Vice President of the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA), Mr. John Aikpokpo-Martins dragged Kalu before the Legal Practitioners’ Disciplinary Committee (LPDC) and the NYSC concerning allegations that he enrolled into Nigerian law school while serving.
The issue was further escalated when a group, the Coalition of South East Youth Leaders (COSEYL) called for the immediate and independent probe of Kalu over the validity of his enrollment as a legal practitioner and the authenticity of his participation in the NYSC scheme.
Another group, Union of Igbo Youth, challenged COSEYL to produce evidence against the Deputy Speaker on the alleged irregularities in his NYSC certificate and Nigerian Law School records.
Interestingly, Kalu isn’t new to scrutiny, he has had to fight several battles at different times. But this raging issue, it appears, will dominate the political scene for the time being.
The bone of contention is not that complicated. To lay the issue bare, in 2010, a man named Benjamin Okezie Osisiogu applied to the Nigerian Law School. That man is now Benjamin Okezie Kalu. On April 23, 2010, he swore an oath as part of that application: “I am not and will not be engaged in any employment nor serve in the National Youth Service Corps during the period of my course at the Nigerian Law School.”
Surprisingly, his NYSC discharge certificate, number A001773067 was issued on March 8, 2011. Which means he completed his service year from March 9, 2010 to March 8, 2011.
It is safe to say that the service year commenced two weeks before he swore he would not serve during Law School. Also, the service year ended the same month he would have been completing his studies. One could say the two timelines do not just overlap; they are almost perfectly aligned.
In the legal profession, it’s a known fact that the Nigerian Law School does not allow students to serve in the NYSC during their course of study. The rules are strict, the attendance requirements are demanding, and the idea of a student simultaneously serving as a corps member somewhere else while attending lectures and writing exams is practically impossible.
Nevertheless, the question on the lips of many is how did he do it? How did Benjamin Kalu manage to be in two places at once? How did he keep an oath that forbade NYSC service while holding a certificate that proves he served? How did he navigate the contradiction between the Law School’s requirements and the NYSC’s demands?
Having realised that the critical questions being asked about his records in the Nigerian Law School and NYSC will not go away anytime soon, Kalu was forced to react in a statement issued by his Chief Press Secretary, Levinus Nwabughiogu, that he remains a duly qualified legal practitioner and a respected public servant whose professional credentials have been examined at multiple stages of his career.
To the surprise of all, Nwabughiogu who is always combative chose a different path this time around. He demanded that relevant statutory bodies should be allowed to examine any petition placed before them to do their job.
The Deputy Speaker was of the opinion that attempting to present speculation as an established fact was therefore premature, misleading, and inconsistent with the principles of fairness and due process which civil society organisations themselves claim to defend.
“Ordinarily, the Office would not dignify speculative claims and politically coloured narratives with an official response. However, in the interest of public clarity and to prevent deliberate misinformation from gaining traction, it has become necessary to address the issues raised.
“First and foremost, it must be clearly stated that the allegations being circulated remain unproven claims arising from a petition that has neither been substantiated nor determined by any competent authority. Kalu remains a duly qualified legal practitioner and a respected public servant whose professional credentials have been examined at multiple stages of his career,” he maintained.
Kalu recalled that he was called to the Nigerian Bar in September 2011 and subsequently enrolled as a legal practitioner of the Supreme Court of Nigeria, a process governed by the Council of Legal Education and the Nigerian Law School with rigorous verification of academic and statutory requirements.
The Deputy Speaker maintained that no time since his call to the Bar has any competent legal authority invalidated his qualification or professional status.
He explained that recent media reports indicated that the current controversy stems from a petition written by a former official of the NBA requesting that the Legal Practitioners’ Disciplinary Committee (LPDC) and the NYSC examine aspects of his academic and service records.
Kalu was of the opinion that the mere existence of a petition does not amount to proof of wrongdoing, and it would be deeply “irresponsible to attempt to convict any individual in the court of public opinion”.
“For emphasis, the Deputy Speaker has never forged any credentials or falsified any official record. Similar accusations were raised during previous political contests in 2023 and were dismissed in legal proceedings where he categorically affirmed the authenticity of his credentials.
“It is therefore troubling that some groups have chosen to recycle unverified allegations at a time when the Deputy Speaker is deeply engaged in national legislative responsibilities,” Kalu said.
While Kalu responded to the allegations, he failed to clarify the year he engaged in the compulsory NYSC scheme. He didn’t provide any information as regards the year he served, the state he served and with which organisation he served.
While the issue of Kalu is still on, this won’t be the first time a Nigerian politician would be in the eyes of the storm.
For instance, Salisu Buhari was 30 years old in 1999, or so he claimed. He had just become Speaker of the House of Representatives. He was young and articulate. The bubble burst when someone in a weekly magazine decided to check his story.
They discovered he was actually 29, which meant he was too young to sit in the House. They discovered he had claimed to graduate from the University of Toronto, and that the university had never heard of him. They discovered his NYSC records could not be found. For weeks, Buhari fought back. He threatened to sue the magazine. He called the allegations a witch hunt. He insisted that due process must be followed. But when Toronto University’s response arrived in writing, confirming that he had never been a student there, the game was up. He resigned on national television and disappeared from public life.
During the Muhammadu Buhari administration, former Minister of Finance, Kemi Adeosun tried the same strategy nearly 29 years later when a news report revealed that her NYSC exemption certificate did not exist.
She had claimed exemption based on studying in the UK, but the rules required documentation she could not produce. She denied everything. She attacked the journalists. She insisted her appointment had been properly vetted. Then the pressure became too much, and she fled to London, resigning by letter rather than face the music at home.
Recently, former Minister of Innovation, Science and Technology Uche Nnaji was caught in a similar web. An investigative report was published showing he never graduated from the University of Nigeria, Nsukka. He failed a course called Virology in 1985 and never retook it.
His name was not on the graduation list. Yet he had submitted a degree certificate dated 1985 to the President and the Senate. Nnaji did what the others had done. He denied everything. He filed a lawsuit to block the university from releasing his records. He accused the vice-chancellor of political manipulation. He waited, hoping the noise would die down. Then a federal government panel confirmed the findings, and he resigned three days later.
The Tinubu administration has demonstrated its capacity to shed excess baggage when such issue arise. While that of Kalu is still unfolding but as the saying goes, a man remains innocent until proven guilty.
SOURCE: THISDAY
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