A lawyer has asked the Legal Practitioners’ Disciplinary Committee (LPDC) to investigate the House of Representatives Deputy Speaker Benjamin Kalu over the validity of his enrolment as a lawyer as well as his participation in the National Youth Service Corps (NYSC).

Former Nigerian Bar Association (NBA) 1st Vice President John AikpokpoMartins had petitioned the LPDC alleging Kalu’s “fraudulent enrolment” on the Roll of Legal Practitioners kept at the Supreme Court.

In a separate petition to the NYSC, he alleged that Kalu unlawfully combined his NYSC service year with attendance at the Nigerian Law School, Enugu Campus — an act he contends contravenes both the Legal Practitioners Act and the NYSC Act.

The petitioner claimed that Kalu was mobilised for NYSC from March 9, 2010, to March 8, 2011, but simultaneously attended the Nigerian Law School between April 23, 201,0 and July 1, 2011.

According to him, the NYSC Act mandates a continuous one-year national service, making it “statutorily impossible” for a corps member to lawfully engage in fulltime academic training at the same time.

He further cited what he described as a ‘strict policy’ of the Nigerian Law School and the Council of Legal Education prohibiting students from serving as corps members during their period of study.

In an affidavit deposed to before the LPDC, Aikpokpo-Martins averred that Kalu, who was admitted into the Nigerian Law School under the name Benjamin Okezie Osisiogu before effecting a change of name, solemnly 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.

However, he maintained that documentary evidence — including the NYSC discharge certificate allegedly issued to Kalu — shows that he continuously participated in the service year within the same period.