The Legal Practitioners Disciplinary Committee (LPDC) has directed the chief registrar of the Supreme Court to strike off the names of four lawyers from the roll of legal practitioners.
The affected lawyers are Dominic Ntiero, Timipa Okponipere, G.C.Monye, andJ.A.Agwuncha. Chairman of the committee, Mr Joseph Daudu (SAN), in a directive in Abujayesterday stated that the decision stemmed from the findings of the panel that the respondents were guilty of infamous conduct.
However, OlawoleAjoge-Daniel, another affected legal practitioner was suspended for five years for similar offence bordering professional misconduct.
On allegation against Ntiero, Daudu said the respondent outrightly failed to appear to defend himself. “We were however satisfied by the committee’s secretary that there was due notice in the Punch Newspaper.
“The respondent’s act violated Rules 47, 50, and 51 of the Rules of Professional Conduct in the Legal Profession 2007 and Section 12 of the Legal Practitioners Act as Amended,’’ he said.
The Nigeria Bar Association (NBA) in its complaint against the respondent alleged that Ntiero issued a dud cheque of N6.3 million to one of his client, Rita Edet, over a failed agreement.
In the case of Okponipere, Daudu said the respondent sometimes in 2007 admitted to have given unsolicited legal services to Mr TimiAlaibe, an ex-managing director of Niger Delta Development Corporation (NDDC).
Daudu held that Okponipere claimed to have nominated Alaibe for National Merit Award and therefore made demands for the sum of N40 million.
The chairman said that Okponipere failed to maintain the high standard of professional conduct expected of a legal practitioner.
…..Leadership papers
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