Victor EzejaSenator representing Kogi Central Senatorial District, Natasha Akoti-Uduaghan, has filed a petition before the Legal Practitioners Disciplinary Committee (LDPC), seeking disbarment of the chairman, Senate Committee on Ethics, Privileges, and Public Petition, Senator Nedamwem Imasuen.
The Kogi lawmaker claimed in her petition to the LPDC that the Senate Ethics committee chairman had been indicted and barred by the New York Supreme Court, Appellate Division, on 10 May 2010, “for fraud, misappropriation of client’s funds, and failure to respond to disciplinary authorities.”
Join our WhatsApp ChannelThe petitioner presented a copy of the Justia New York Case Law 2010 titled: “Matter of Imasuen” -to the LPDC in support of her claim.
Additionally, she promised to provide additional evidence from official records of the respondent’s disbarment at the trial of the case.
According to Senator Akpoti-Uduaghan, the U.S. court disbarred Imasuen after a client, named Daphne Slyfield, filed a complaint against him. Slyfield paid him hefty legal fees but was left without any legal redress.
“The court found that the respondent had violated multiple professional rules, resulting in the permanent revocation of his legal licence in the US.
“That following the respondent’s disbarment, he relocated to Nigeria, continued to present himself as a legal practitioner and pursued a career in politics, eventually securing a seat in the National Assembly as the senator representing Edo South Senatorial District,” she stated in her petition.
She further stated that “Despite disbarment, which was hinged on unethical conduct, the respondent failed to disclose this sanction, both in the legal profession and political space, as a senator, and was eventually made the chairman of the Senate Committee on Ethics, Privileges, and Public Petitions, a position requiring unimpeachable integrity.
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“That the Respondent did not remotely disclose his disbarment either in his Form EC9 – particulars of personal information submitted to INEC on oath at the time of aspiring for public office.”
Why Akpoti-Uduaghan filed the petition
Senator Akpoti-Uduaghan said her decision to petition the Legal Practitioners Disciplinary Committee was informed by a series of incidents that raised doubts about Senator Imasuen’s moral character and honesty.
She claimed that Senator Imasuen publicly rejected a March 4 Federal High Court of Abuja interim order that prevented his committee from moving further with a disciplinary case against her. This, she argued, is an attempt to bring shame and disgrace to the judiciary.
She insisted that the respondent, who had received the interim order properly, had committed contempt of court by suspending her for six months.
