The Chairman of the Body of Benchers (BOB), Chief Wole Olanipekun (SAN) has used the Call to bar ceremony on Wednesday to warn lawyers against using a
The Chairman of the Body of Benchers (BOB), Chief Wole Olanipekun (SAN) has used the Call to bar ceremony on Wednesday to warn lawyers against using any legal instrument to witch-hunt perceived enemies.
Olanipekun gave the advice amid a petition by the President of the Nigeria Bar Association, Olumide Akpata, requesting him to recuse himself “from chairmanship of the BOB henceforth and to allow for the emplacement of an interim leadership of the BOB, in order to enable the LPDC carry out this particular assignment, amongst others, without coming under an undue suspicion of impartiality.”
The NBA had stated that Ms Ogunde, a partner in the law firm of Wole Olanipekun and Co., persuaded Saipem Contracting Nigeria Ltd to engage her principal under the guise that he could influence judicial verdicts in its favor.
The lawyer in question was said to have admitted to the offense but her firm issued a rebuttal stating that she made the request without authorization.
On Wednesday, at the ceremony for new lawyers, Olanipekun maintained that the Legal Practitioners Disciplinary Committee “is a committee of the Body of Benchers, saddled with the responsibility of disciplining any legal practitioner in Nigeria where his or her conduct amounts to infamous conduct in professional respect in violation of the Rules of Professional Conduct for legal practitioners in Nigeria.”
He added that over the years, the LPDC, has continued to operate as an independent arbiter, enjoying absolute independence in the course of carrying out its assignment.
“The Body of Benchers does not and will not interfere with any of the proceedings or outcome of such proceedings before the LPDC.
“It is important to point out that the LPDC is not an avenue for dealing with perceived enemies or ventilation of grievances against fellow lawyers on personal issues,” he said.
Meanwhile, Akpata in an interview on Wednesday that while he had nothing personal against Olanipekun, he remains shocked at the silence by legal luminaries in the BOB who failed to talk about his letter during a recent meeting.
He said “There cannot be two standards in the land. You cannot be a judge in your own case, end of story. Maybe they want to push it to the next meeting when I will no longer be President. Something as this that is affecting the whole profession and they are playing the ostrich……. We play double standard, We like to pontificate, We are hypocrites.”
