The Legal Practitioners Disciplinary Committee (LPDC) has formally dismissed a petition seeking to investigate Deputy Speaker of the House of Representatives, Benjamin Okezie Kalu, citing a fundamental lack of jurisdiction over the matter.
The decision followed an inquiry initiated by lawyer John Aikpokpo Martins, who had alleged that Kalu concurrently participated in the National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) while attending the Nigerian Law School.
In a report issued on March 11, 2026, the committee clarified that its mandate is strictly limited to regulating the professional conduct of individuals after they have been formally called to the Nigerian Bar, rather than scrutinizing their activities during the training phase.
The disciplinary panel, led by Chairman Umeh Kalu (SAN), emphasized that the incidents described in the complaint occurred prior to the Deputy Speaker’s admission to the Bar, placing the allegations entirely outside the committee’s legal reach.
The report, signed by LPDC Registrar Zibai Katung, further clarified that the committee holds no supervisory authority over the operational or administrative functions of the Nigerian Law School, the Council of Legal Education, the NYSC, or the Body of Benchers.
The panel thus ruled that the petition could not be sustained within the framework of professional legal discipline.
