Suspended Dean of the Faculty of Law at the University of Calabar (UNICAL), Professor Cyril Ndifon, has contested the legal credentials of Osuobeni Akponimisingha, who serves as legal counsel for the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission (ICPC).
Ndifon, who faces allegations of sexual harassment, alleged before a Federal High Court in Abuja that the ICPC’s legal representative was not a registered lawyer and should not be recognised as such.
The embattled lecturer submitted his allegations through his attorney, Joe Agi, SAN, in a motion on notice marked: FHC/ABJ/CR/511/2023, before presiding Justice James Omotosho.
The professor contended that Akponimisingha’s name was absent from the roster of legal practitioners in Nigeria. He therefore urged the court to dismiss the four charges against him and his co-defendant, Sunny Anyanwu.
Agi argued in a motion filed on March 15, that the amended charge was invalid due to the disputed identity of the ICPC’s lawyer, thereby depriving the court of jurisdiction over the matter.
Agi asserted his obligation to apprise the court of Akponimisingha’s alleged professional misconduct and violation of national law, as sworn to in his oath as a Senior Advocate of Nigeria.
The amended charge, Agi contended, was filed by Dr. Osuobeni Ekoi Akponimisingha, an individual not listed as a legal practitioner in Nigeria as stipulated by the Legal Practitioners Act.
Agi alleged:
“That Joshua E. Alobo who appears for the prosecution as counsel as a private legal practitioner in a criminal case does not have the fiat of the Honourable Attorney-General of the Federation.
“That both Osuobeni Ekoi Akponimisingha and Joshua E. Alobo answer in this court and caused to print on their processes the title “Dr.” “Professor” when they do not have the academic qualifications to show for the titles, thereby misrepresenting themselves to the public and bringing legal profession to ridicule and shame,”
Agi further sought court orders to strike out the amended charge and remove Joshua E. Alobo from the prosecution counsel, citing Alobo’s lack of authorisation from the Attorney General of the Federation.
Additionally, Agi requested the court to refer Akponimisingha and Alobo to the Legal Practitioners Disciplinary Committee for falsely claiming academic titles they did not possess.
“An order of court striking out all the appearance of Joshua E. Alobo from the prosecution counsel for appearing as a private legal practitioner in a criminal case without the fiat of the Honourable Attorney General of the Federation.
“An order of court referring both Osuobeni Ekoi Akponimisingha and Joshua E. Alobo to the Legal Practitioners Disciplinary Committee for answering and caused to print on their processes the title ‘Dr’ and ‘Professor’ when they do not have the academic qualifications to show for the titles thereby misrepresenting themselves to the public and bringing legal profession to ridicule and shame,” he claimed.
Anyanwu, in an affidavit supporting the motion, asserted that granting the application would serve the interests of justice and uphold the ICPC’s mandate to combat corruption nationwide.
