Lawyers Urge Council to Dismiss Petition Against Kalu’s Law Certificate

The legal team representing Benjamin Kalu, Deputy Speaker of the House of Representatives, has strongly urged the Council of Legal Education to dismiss a petition seeking to cancel his qualifying certificate as a lawyer. The solicitors, from Olaniwun Ajayi LP, described the petition, filed by John Martins, as "fundamentally deficient in law." The core of the petitioner's argument is that Kalu's attendance at the Nigerian Law School overlapped with his mandatory National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) participation, an allegation Kalu's lawyers vehemently deny has legal standing.

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fundamentally deficient in law

In a detailed letter dated April 28, 2026, Kalu's lawyers asserted that the Council of Legal Education, as a statutory body, can only exercise powers explicitly granted to it by law. They emphasized that there is no provision in the Legal Education (Consolidation, etc.) Act that empowers the Council to withdraw or cancel a certificate after it has been issued. The lawyers further argued that the Council's disciplinary powers are narrowly defined and can only be invoked in cases of "manifest vitiating criminal conduct," none of which has been established against Kalu.

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The Council cannot revoke a lawfully issued certificate unless a clear case of criminal misconduct is proven. The petition does not meet that threshold.

The legal team presented three key grounds for dismissing the petition: the absence of any proven criminal misconduct, the petitioner's reliance on an unsworn declaration, and the lack of any legal prohibition against undertaking NYSC service concurrently with Nigerian Law School studies. They maintained that the petitioner failed to provide any official regulation or circular explicitly barring such concurrency, and that withdrawing a lawfully issued certificate would constitute an unwarranted penal action. This defense highlights a critical legal debate over the Council's authority and the interpretation of regulations governing legal education and national service in Nigeria.

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The petitioner has annexed no official regulation, subsidiary legislation, or circular issued by the Council that explicitly bars contemporaneous Nigerian Law School studies and NYSC service.