Hon Benjamin Kalu

According to reports, the former senior special adviser to the then governor of Abia State Orji Uzor Kalu on local government and chieftaincy affairs and also Deputy Speaker, Hon. Benjamin Okezie Kalu, who serves as the representative of Bende Federal Constituency in the House of Representatives, is currently facing precarious situation. 

There are several reports of allegedly forgery and discrepancies in his academic credentials have been uncovered, posing a significant threat to his political career.

In the view of the above fact, he appeared before the panel led by Justice Kabiru Amad for cross-examination, Kalu vehemently denied forging his credentials, although he acknowledged that certain discrepancies were present in his birth certificate, undergraduate degree certificate, NYSC certificate, and other documents.

The lawmaker clarified that he had legally changed his name and harmonized it to Benjamin Okezie Kalu, thus adopting his current identity.

However, during the cross-examination, the counsel representing the first petitioner, Yunus Ustaz Usmas, SAN, raised a question regarding the authorization of the name change. Usmas asked Kalu whether the institutions that issued his certificates were responsible for the name change or if it was done by Kalu himself. In response, Kalu stated that he personally made the changes and not the institutions.

During the examination of Kalu's witness, Mr. Cyril Kwubiri, pretended to have a visual impairment and claimed an inability to see the contents of a document presented to him, thus rendering him unable to testify in the certificate suit. The panel adjourned the proceedings until August 14th for the final address. 

However, certificate forgery has been a course of concern among Nigerian government officials. In the recent years, judiciary was confronted with handful of legal proceedings regarding to authenticity of academic credentials of government officials.