A group, Niger Data Mobilisation Team, and Nkpa indigenes have called on the Deputy Speaker of the House of Representatives, Ben Kalu, and the Director-General of his campaign, Trump Eke, to withdraw a lawsuit against their son, Darlington Agoha.

The community, led by Dixon Uwakwe, on Monday at the High Court premises in Umuahia gave Kalu and Eke a 72-hour ultimatum to withdraw the suit. They described Agoha as a dedicated public interest advocate who has faced “relentless judicial intimidation for the past two years.”

“Mr Darlington Agoha’s only crime was daring to demand basic accountability and transparency from the leadership of our constituency. Specifically, he has championed our community’s struggle for the proper execution of the N1.3 billion Ecological Fund project allocated for the Nkpa Road,” the group said.

Residents alleged that instead of receiving quality infrastructure funded by the Federal Government, Nkpa had been left with substandard work and collapsing structures.

They claimed that when Agoha raised his voice to demand accountability, the campaign director-general, acting on behalf of the Deputy Speaker, was deployed to drag him to court.

“This two-year-old lawsuit is a clear proxy litigation using a political campaign structure to bully, intimidate, and shield leadership from accounting for the N1.3 billion Ecological Fund project. Bende is a constituency plagued by substandard projects,” the group added.

They urged Kalu and Eke to embrace transparency rather than litigating against anyone who questions the quality of projects in the constituency.