News
Court dismisses UNICAL Dean’s motion challenging ICPC lawyer’s qualification
Justice James Omotosho of the Federal High Court, Abuja, on Thursday, dismissed a motion filed by the suspended Dean of the Faculty of Law at the University of Calabar, Prof. Cyril Ndifon challenging the qualification of the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission (ICPC)’s lawyer, Osuobeni Akponimisingha.
The judge in his ruling held that the application and counter affidavit filed by parties in the controversy over the legal qualifications of Akponimisingha and defence counsel, Joe Agi, (SAN), was not for the court to determine.
He said the Legal Practitioners’ Privilege Committee (LPPC) was the appropriate body to determine whether a lawyer is on its roll call.
The judge said: “It is clear that the committee can investigate such allegations upon a petition by any of the parties.”
Ndifon and his co-defendant, Sunny Anyanwu, had alleged that Akponimisingha was not qualified to practice as a lawyer.
The duo through their lawyer insisted that Akponimisingha’s name was allegedly not on the roll of legal practitioners in Nigeria under Section 2 of the Legal Practitioners Act.
They argued that the four-count amended charge preferred against them by ICPC was incompetent as a result of the disputed identity of the ICPC’s lawyer.
READ ALSO: ICPC closes case against UNICAL dean in trial for alleged sexual harassment
The applicants said the development had robbed the court of its jurisdiction to entertain the matter.
They, therefore, prayed the court to quash the charge against them.
Akponimisingha, in his counter affidavit dated March 20, accused the suspended dean and his legal team of being jealous of his academic qualifications.
The lawyer, who attached his Nigerian Bar Association (NBA) Practising Licence document dated 2016 with the counter affidavit, said he graduated from law school.
He equally alleged that the names of defence counsel and other senior advocates appearing with him in the criminal case were not on the roll of Legal Practitioners in Nigeria with the appendage of “SAN.”
Join the conversation
Support Ripples Nigeria, hold up solutions journalism
Balanced, fearless journalism driven by data comes at huge financial costs.
As a media platform, we hold leadership accountable and will not trade the right to press freedom and free speech for a piece of cake.
If you like what we do, and are ready to uphold solutions journalism, kindly donate to the Ripples Nigeria cause.
Your support would help to ensure that citizens and institutions continue to have free access to credible and reliable information for societal development.
INVESTIGATION: In Kwara, multimillion-naira milk processing plant is abandoned, converted to a chicken outlet
After the government spent millions of naira to establish a milk processing plant in Kwara State that would provided jobs...
SPECIAL REPORT: For Sokoto communities, promise of healthcare is akin to death sentence
In this story, ABDULRASHEED HAMMAD delves into the dire realities of Primary Health Care services in Sokoto State, shedding light...
ICYMI…SPECIAL REPORT: NNPCL hides behind PIA to frustrate disclosure, accountability
Nigeria’s major oil company, Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation Limited (NNPCL), in what appears to be a common practice of disregard...
INVESTIGATION: Multi-million naira Ekiti resort center remains uncompleted a decade after
The multimillion-naira project, expected to comprise recreational buildings, now consists of cassava farmland, a bush used for excretion, and a...
SPECIAL REPORT: Torturous experiences of students with disabilities in Oyo tertiary institutions
For students with disabilities in Oyo state-owned tertiary institutions, learning is a torturous and distressing experience, considering the building structures...