A coalition of civil society organisations has issued a 72-hour ultimatum to the Deputy Speaker of the House of Representatives, Benjamin Kalu, to step aside pending investigations into alleged perjury, false representation, and contradiction between his National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) and Nigerian Bar certificates.
The coalition led by the Civil Society Groups of Good Governance (CSGG, at a press briefing in Abuja on Friday, where it raised questions about the constitutional and legal propriety of Kalu continuing to occupy the second-highest office in the lower chamber of the National Assembly.
The groups warned that if the relevant authorities, including the NYSC, the Nigerian Law School, the Council of Legal Education, and the Legal Practitioners Disciplinary Committee (LPDC), failed to act within 72 hours, they would be left with no option, but to occupy the National Assembly.
Addressing journalists, the president of the CSGGG and spokesperson of the coalition, Chief Dominic Ogakwu, outlined the constitutional basis for their agitation.
He said the coalition “seeks to test the constitutional provision that all authorities and persons in our country are indeed held to the same scrutiny and accountability.”
He said, “Let me make it clear that we are non-aligned, partisan or otherwise, and our interest in this matter which has been raging for a while without due attention by the relevant authorities; the Nigerian Law School, the National Youth Service Corps, NYSC, and the Legal Practitioners Disciplinary Committee, LPDC, as well as the principal actor in the debacle, Rt. Hon. Benjamin Okezie Kalu, should be a source of great worry to all patriotic Nigerians.
“We do not impute any crime, yet, rather we demand clarity as to the possibility of Rt. Hon. Kalu, after swearing two oaths, one with the NYSC and the other with the Nigerian Law School that he will abide faithfully and wholly with the demands of the Service Year and the rigours of the Law School still carry out two functions which are mutually exclusive and not be held for perjury and for violating the rules and regulations of NYSC and the Nigerian Law School.”
According to the group, Kalu, who was admitted to the Nigerian Law School under the name Benjamin Okezie Osisiogu before a series of name changes, declared on April 23, 2010, that he was not and would not engage in employment or participate in the NYSC during his course of study.
The coalition demanded an explanation as to how Kalu was able to earn his NYSC discharge certificate marked A001773067 and dated March 8, 2011, when he was supposedly at the Law School during the same period.
According to the group, Kalu, who was admitted to the Nigerian Law School under the name Benjamin Okezie Osisiogu before a series of name changes, declared on April 23, 2010, that he was not and would not engage in employment or participate in the NYSC during his course of study.
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