By Sen. EMMA NWAKA

In recent times, all manner of efforts have been deployed to tarnish the image of the Rt. Hon. Benjamin Kalu, the Deputy Speaker of the 10th Federal House of Representatives.

It all revolves around the spurious allegation that he participated in the national youth service side by side with his time at the Nigerian Law School. Even if that is true, so what?

His traducers are of the view that he has thus transgressed the law which frowns at being engaged in any other activity during the service year. His offense, if at all, was that he killed two birds with one stone. It is not a case of forging NYSC or Law School certificates.

Against this backdrop, it rankles that some faceless groups have had no qualms to liken his case to that of Salisu Buhari, who in 1999 became the Speaker of the Federal House of Representatives based on a forged certificate purportedly issued by University of Toronto. They have also tried to draw a similarity between his case and that of Kemi Adeosun, former Minister of Finance, whose NYSC exemption certificate was proved to be non-existent. Neither of both cases shares any iota of similarity, I must say, with that of the Rt. Hon. Ben Kalu, whose matter is devoid of any iota of criminality.

All those on a wicked mission to pull the Rt. Hon. Ben Kalu down have refused to consider the circumstances that may have warranted the coincidence of serving and going to school at the same time, assuming that is the case.

It is the pride of every lawyer to participate in the national youth service as a full-fledged legal practitioner. It is unfortunate that some of our universities admit students in excess of the approved quota. The result is that when it is time to attend the Law School for professional certification, some law graduates are forced to not attend immediately after their graduation from the university. This is so because the law school is strict about its yearly student intake. Those who can't make it to the law school pending space availability at a future date are now left with the option of taking part in the national youth service or languishing at home. It is now becoming the norm for there to be a backlog of graduate lawyers waiting for admission into the law school. This trend must stop. It appears that it is under these circumstances – which are not of his own making – that the Rt. Hon. Ben Kalu chose to participate in the national youth service first. I am given to understand that while serving, he received a call-up letter to go to the law school located in the same city where he was serving.

Are they now suggesting he should have allowed the opportunity to go to the law school to pass him bye in a system where most things are not guaranteed? Has any person paused to reason that another chance may take quite a while to manifest?

Law is for man, and not the other way round. If the application of the law will occasion manifest absurdity, fairness demands that an innocent person should not be a victim of such a law.

All that I have encapsulated above is what the hullabaloo is all about. Those baying for blood want the Rt. Hon. Ben Kalu to be sacrificed for the failure of the law faculties to stick to their admission quota. Is this not like the case of the chicken which instead of protesting against the person who killed it, ends up in the soup pot with its neck bent as if the pot is to blame.

In my humble view, the Rt. Hon. Ben Kalu has no case to answer. When our country called him to serve, he obeyed the call. At the end of his service, he was issued a certificate, a demonstration that he served diligently and satisfactorily. On the successful completion of his course of study at the law school, he received his certificate on merit.

I am really unable to understand what the beefing is all about, particularly when it is obviously not his fault that the law school had no space for him and many others at the appropriate time. What we should be doing is to call on relevant authorities not to be toying with the fate of our youths. I can imagine that some busybodies must have been suborned to pull him down by their paymasters with 2027 general elections in view. Let not the innocent pay the price for what is not his fault.

•Senator Emma Nwaka, a distinguished Abia citizen, is an Auja-based seasoned lawyer and politician.

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