The Union of Igbo Youths (UIY) has thrown its full weight behind Rt. Hon. Benjamin Kalu, Deputy Speaker of the Federal House of Representatives, denouncing as fabricated and politically motivated the allegations raised by the Coalition of South East Youth Leaders (COSEYL) over the Deputy Speaker’s NYSC certificate and Nigerian Law School records — and describing COSEYL itself as a “group for hire” in the service of unnamed political sponsors.
In a detailed and forcefully worded statement issued on Wednesday and signed by the group’s National President, Dr. Nicholas Nwigwe, and Vice President, Dr. Ada Stella Okoronkwo, the UIY which spread across all 36 states, said it was issuing not just a statement but a “warning” that the era of deploying sponsored voices to undermine the South-East’s rising political figures must end.
Central to the UIY’s defence is the outcome of a 2023 NYSC verification exercise. According to the group, the NYSC conducted a formal and independent investigation into questions surrounding Kalu’s certificate and, at its conclusion, issued an official verification letter confirming that the Deputy Speaker obtained his certificate in full compliance with the NYSC Act. A senior NYSC director who participated in the process has since publicly reaffirmed that finding.
The group challenged COSEYL to produce a counter-verification document from the NYSC, a letter from the agency’s Director-General disputing the 2023 findings, or any sworn affidavit from a competent authority backing its claims.
“Because if you cannot and we are absolutely certain you cannot then COSEYL has done nothing less than defame a serving constitutional officer of the Federal Republic of Nigeria,” the statement declared.
The UIY also addressed reports that elements of the same campaign were considering filing a petition against Kalu at the Legal Practitioners Disciplinary Committee (LPDC) over his Law School records. The group dismissed the prospect, insisting the LPDC which it described as one of Nigeria’s most respected regulatory institutions would not allow itself to become “an instrument of political harassment against a man whose records have already been verified clean.” It called on the Nigerian Bar Association leadership and senior legal practitioners to guard the committee’s integrity from partisan abuse.
In a section headlined “COSEYL: A Group for Hire,” the UIY posed six direct questions to the coalition: the identity of whoever commissioned and funded the campaign; the specific title and reference number of the alleged indicting report; whether COSEYL had sought legal advice before making allegations against a constitutional officer; why it was targeting a man who had filed no intention to contest any election; whether it could publicly account for its sources of funding; and whether it was connected to a wider network that had allegedly deployed protest groups including formations from outside the South-East against Kalu using what the UIY described as diverted public resources.
The UIY attributed the ferocity of the attacks to political fear rather than genuine accountability concerns. Noting that Kalu had neither declared for the Abia State governorship nor submitted any electoral expression of intent, the group argued that rival interests were moving against him precisely because of his potential. “They are not fighting a declared candidate. They are fighting a potential,” the statement read, adding that Kalu’s record of attracting federal attention and resources to the South-East and providing the region with a formidable voice at the national level made him a threat to entrenched interests.
The union closed by calling on Igbo youth organisations, traditional institutions, the media, and security agencies to respectively reject the campaign, demand evidence from COSEYL, and investigate the funding of protest activities targeting the Deputy Speaker. “An attack on Benjamin Kalu at this scale is not simply an attack on one man,” the statement said. “It is an attack on the ambition of every Igbo person who dares to rise.”
COSEYL had not responded to a request for comment as of press time.
