The Youth Renaissance for Good Governance has rejected the allegations levelled against the Deputy Speaker of the Federal House of Representatives, Hon. Ben Kalu by the Coalition of South East Youth Leaders (COSEYL) regarding his National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) certificate and Nigerian Law School records.
It alleged that the issue was a political desperation emanating from certain quarters in Abia State.
The group said Kalu’s potential — including an undeclared but widely speculated gubernatorial ambition — had so alarmed rival political interests that they had gone as far as sponsoring protest groups from outside the South-east to agitate against him using public funds.
Recall that former First Vice President of the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA), Mr. John Aikpokpo-Martins had dragged Kalu before the Legal Practitioners’ Disciplinary Committee (LPDC) and the NYSC concerning allegations that he enrolled into Nigerian law school while serving.
However, the group in a statement issued Thursday by its National President, Dr. Ebekuo Madu, and National Secretary, Paul Nwachukwu said a 2023 NYSC verification exercise as dispositive of the matter.
The group claimed that a senior NYSC director who participated in the investigation confirmed that Kalu’s certificate was duly obtained in full compliance with the NYSC Act, adding that the NYSC had already issued a verification letter to that effect.
It described the COSEYL statement as a nauseating report that bore enormous falsehood and demanded that the group produce the source of its so-called indicting report.
It noted: “We wish to place before the Nigerian public and all well-meaning citizens of the South-East the irrefutable fact that there exists no credible, official, or verified report indicting the Rt. Hon. Benjamin Kalu.”
The group dismissed any prospect of the Legal Practitioners Disciplinary Committee (LPDC) entertaining “an infantile and politically motivated petition built on fabricated allegations.
It noted that the LPDC’s mandate was too weighty to be weaponised for political ends.
It added: ” Hon. Kalu has not even declared any intention to run for the governorship of Abia State, yet these desperate forces are so terrified of his potential that they have resorted to hiring proxies. This is both shameful and an affront to the dignity of our people.”
The group emphasised that the pattern of attacking Kalu’s credentials was not new, describing it as a recurring feature of every election cycle targeting prominent South-East political figures. It urged COSEYL to focus instead on the tangible challenges confronting South-East youths rather than serve as an instrument of political vendetta.