The Deputy Speaker of the House of Representatives, Hon. Benjamin Kalu, said he has been vindicated on the validation of his name by the ruling of the National Assembly Election Petitions Tribunal sitting in Umuahia, the Abia State capital which also upheld his election.
Kalu said this in a statement issued by his Chief Press Secretary (CPS), Levinus Nwabughiogu, on Tuesday in Abuja, while reacting to the judgement of the Tribunal.
The candidate of the Labour Party in the February 25, 2023 National Assembly election for Bendel federal constituency of Abia State, Frank Chinasa, had petitioned the Tribunal, seeking the nullification of Kalu’s election on the account of alleged inconsistency in his name.
But, in an unanimous judgment by the three-man panel of Justices of the Tribunal, read by the Chairman, Justice Samson Paul Gang, on Tuesday in Umuahia, the Tribunal dismissed the petition and denied all the prayers of the petitioner for lacking in merit.
The panel held that Kalu’s certificates were never forged and that the names on the certificates were all his.
The Tribunal also held that Kalu had since harmonised his names through a Deed Pool published in a federal gazette, backed with a newspaper publication of change of name, insisting that the petitioner could not establish any case of certificate forgery against the Deputy Speaker.
It also confirmed that the harmonisation of deputy speaker’s name followed the laid down rules.
The tribunal further held that since the election results were never contested, Kalu, therefore, remained the winner of the National Assembly election for Bende federal constituency.
The Deputy Speaker, upon the receipt of the news in Abuja, expressed immense gratitude to the judiciary for recognising that he followed due process and other extant laws to validate his name.
He also thanked the people of Bende federal constituency on whose mandate he stands, reiterating that his confidence in the judiciary to do justice to issues at all times was unwavering.
“I have never doubted the ability of the judiciary at any level to do justice to issues. My confidence in them has always been unwavering.
“It has, once again, vindicated me on this matter and also upheld my mandate as the elected representative of the people, in this case, Bende federal constituency of Abia State. I am grateful,” Kalu stated.
