A Renowned Professor and Senior Advocate of Nigeria, Prof. Ernest Ojukwu SAN has reacted to the purported reply by Yemi Aliyu SAN to the letter by the NBA President, Olumide Akpata asking Chief Olanipekun SAN to recuse himself from the role of the Chairman of the Body of Benchers (BoB) seeing that it is the regulatory body supervising the Legal Practitioners Disciplinary Committee (LPDC) who is at the moment handling the case of alleged professional misconduct of Ms. Adekunbi Ogunde who happens to also be a Partner in the law firm of Wole Olanipekun and Co, where Chief Olanipekun SAN is the Principal Partner.
In a post on Facebook ,Prof. Ojukwu SAN reacting first to the letter by the NBA President, Olumide Akapata stated that all Akpata did was advise Olanipekun SAN on questions of professional responsibility. “NBA President Akpata’s advise to Chief Wole Olanipekun SAN pertains to questions of professional misconduct, ethics and professional responsibility.” He wrote on Facebook.
As regards comments made by Yemi Aliyu SAN, Prof. Ojukwu SAN expressed his disappointment stating that it was an attempt to make the issue tribal when it certainly wasn’t. His words read in part thus: “The comments attributed to Yemi Aliyu SAN that attempts to divert the issues to mundane tribal discussions is terribly disappointing and unfortunate.”
On the significance of the statement, the Prof. continued thus: “If those statements were truly made, then we have a dangerous precedent in the profession especially coming from a Senior SAN.”
Recall Yemi Aliyu SAN in response to the report made by The Lawyer regarding the letter from the NBA President, Olumide Akpata to Chief Olanipekun SAN asking him to recuse himself from the Chairing the BoB on the basis that the Chairman shared a working relationship with the Lawyer before the LPDC and as the Chairman of the Body supervising the LPDC, conflict of interest was a strong possibility. In response to this letter, Aliyu SAN had said thus: “President Akpata, una do well ooooo! Yoruba lawyers shall be there in full force to defend our leader and Primus inter Peres! No Yoruba son shall ever be made a sacrificial lamb like it was done to Kunle Kalejaiye SAN! Call it what you like! Tribalism!Yes! What an insult! We are Yorubas before we are Nigerians!”
According to Prof. Ojukwu SAN to the above statement by Aliyu SAN, said “Such a statement from a senior advocate of Nigeria engages in conduct which is unbecoming of a legal practitioner and deserves disciplinary action.”
