Alleged NYSC/Law School Overlap: Disciplinary Committee Dismisses Petition Against Deputy Speaker, Kalu

The Legal Practitioners Disciplinary Committee (LPDC) has dismissed a complaint filed against the Deputy Speaker of the House of Representatives, Benjamin Okezie Kalu, ruling that no prima facie case was established against him.

The decision, contained in a Certified True Copy, with the ruling referenced number BB/LPDC/1954/2026 and obtained by journalists on Wednessady, was signed by senior panel member, Umeh Kalu, SAN.

The panel delivered a decisive verdict in favour of the Deputy Speaker, effectively bringing the matter to a close without requiring him to respond to the allegations.

Recall that the petition was filed by one Barr. John Aikpokpo Martins, who alleged that Kalu was formerly known as Benjamin Okezie Osisiogu before a legal name change, and that he simultaneously participated in the National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) scheme while undergoing training at the Nigerian Law School, an act he claimed violated the provisions of the NYSC Act.

Martins further alleged that the purported dual participation amounted to false declarations, which he argued formed the basis of Kalu’s call to the Nigerian Bar on September 6, 2011, and his subsequent enrollment on the Roll of Legal Practitioners at the Supreme Court of Nigeria on October 5, 2011.

However, the LPDC panel, in what it described as a clear and comprehensive determination, held that the complaint was fundamentally defective both procedurally and substantively.

On procedural grounds, the committee noted that the petitioner’s Statement of Facts was wrongly addressed to the Chairman of the Legal Practitioners Privileges Committee, instead of the Chairman of the LPDC as required under Rule 4 of the LPDC Rules, 2020.

Although the panel chose to overlook the procedural lapses, it maintained that the petition still failed on merit.

More significantly, the committee ruled that the issues raised in the complaint relating to participation in the NYSC programme, training at the Nigerian Law School, and enrollment at the Supreme Court fall outside the jurisdiction of the LPDC.

According to the panel, the LPDC was established strictly to regulate the professional conduct of enrolled legal practitioners in the course of their duties to the public, as provided under Section 10 of the Legal Practitioners Act.

“The LPDC cannot interrogate the operations of the Nigerian Law School, the Council of Legal Education, the NYSC and the Body of Benchers,” the ruling stated.

The Committee also observed that the alleged infractions, even if they were proven, occurred before Kalu was called to the Bar and therefore fell outside the disciplinary jurisdiction of the LPDC.

“No prima facie case is established,” the ruling concluded, thereby fully exonerating the Deputy Speaker.