General Secretary of the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA), Mazi Afam Osigwe, has lambasted the publishers of SahararReporters for seeking to tarnish his reputation by publishing a false report about him and without reaching him for his side of the story. Mazi Afam Osigwe was reacting to the story entitled ‘Judicial Misconduct: Justice Mary Odili’s Dirty Schemes Against A Nigerian Lawyer Determined To Expose Her’, which was published by the US-based portal on May 29, 2016.

The NBA General Secretary, in a statement, a copy of which was made available to News Express, set the record straight about the derobing of Timipa Jenkins Okponipere, explaining that it was entirely an NBA affair that has nothing to do with Justice Mary Odili. Mazi Afam Osigwe wrote:

“My first reaction was to laugh it off and totally ignore it but on second thought, I decided it would be unwise to unwittingly lend credence to the falsehood contained therein by keeping silent.

“My initial thought was that if SahararReporters was the credible medium I thought it was, it would not only have heard from persons like me whose reputation it set out to tarnish but would have investigated the hog-wash it spewed out as a story.

“For a start nobody needs to hatch any plot to “derobe Okponipere without due process” as the Legal Practitioners Disciplinary Committee (LPDC), after hearing a petition against TIMIPA JENKINS OKPONIPERE ordered his name to be struck off the Roll of Legal Practitioners in Nigeria sometime in May 2013. This was long before I became the General Secretary of NBA. Consequent upon the order of the LPDC, the name of TIMIPA OKPONIPERE, was struck off the Roll of Lawyers in Nigeria on September 14, 2015. Upon his name being struck off the Roll of Lawyers in Nigeria, he ceased to be a lawyer and effectively lost the right to practise law in Nigeria. A simple investigation would have revealed this, if really the intention was to carry out an honest reportage and not to carry out spurious and sensational publication aimed at tarnishing people’s reputation.

“Despite the order striking off his name from the Roll of Legal Practitioners in Nigeria, Mr Okponipere continued to practise law. Upon this being brought to the attention of the Nigerian Bar Association courtesy of a petition written by the then INEC Chairman, Prof Attahiru Jega, who complained that Mr. Okponipere instituted an action in court on his behalf without his consent or authority, the NBA reported Mr Okponipere to the police for practising law without lawful authority. The police investigated the matter and charged him to court and the court remanded him in prison custody. Mr. Okponipere secured his release after his then lawyer Dr Gele obtained a letter dated July 9, 2015 from the Supreme Court which confirmed his name was still on the Roll of legal practitioners in Nigeria. Mr. Okponipere was able to get away with this because the police never informed the NBA of the pendency of the suit nor requested our presence in court as witnesses. These facts of the latter written by the Chief Registrar of the Supreme Court and his release came to our attention by virtue of papers Mr Okponipere filed in court after his release.

“I must pause here to state that the inadvertence and or failure to strike off Mr Okponipere’s name from the Roll thus led to his being issued with the letter dated July 9, 2015 ‘confirming that his name was still on the Roll of legal practitioners in Nigeria’. The NBA then brought this to the attention of the relevant authorities and his name was then struck off the Roll of lawyers in Nigeria.

“The Chief Registrar of the Supreme Court of Nigeria by a letter dated January 26, 2016 confirmed to the NBA that the name of TIMIPA JENKINS OKPONIPERE has been struck off the Roll of Legal Practitioners kept in the Supreme Court of Nigeria. The letter, of course, supersedes the earlier letter written to TIMPA JENKINS OKPONIPERE by the Chief Registrar of the Supreme Court of Nigeria on July 9, 2015.

“Let me state emphatically that I have never met nor ever spoken with Mr. Timipa Okponipere who I was allegedly hired by Honourable Justice Mary Peter-Odili JSC or any person whatsoever to derobe without due process. I have never demanded for anything from him or anybody whatsoever to discharge my duty, to bribe any person in respect of his matter or any other matter whatsoever. I cannot do that. I do not need to be put under pressure to discharge my duties as the General Secretary of the NBA which includes ensuring that persons who are not authorised to practise do not practise law. It was in the exercise of this duty that I made a direct criminal complaint to the Chief Magistrate sitting at Wuse Zone 6, Abuja as well as the Federal High Court, Abuja when I received report Mr Okponipere was still holding himself out as a lawyer and in fact appearing as counsel in those courts.

“It is interesting to note that by a letter dated September 25, 2014 Mr Timpa Okponipere wrote the NBA, he claimed that his name has not been struck off the roll of legal practitioners in Nigeria. He also stated that the name that was stuck off sometime in May 2013 is one “TIMIPA OKPONIPERE” which bears a close resemblance with his name, TIMIPA JENKINS OKPONIPERE. In our response dated October 8, 2014, we reiterated that there is only one TIMIPA JENKINS OKPONIPERE in the Roll of Lawyers called to the Bar in Nigeria. The name “JENKINS” which appears in the TIMIPA JENKINS OKPONIPERE is the middle name of the person.

“I believe that if the publication were not actuated by malice, you would have sought to hear the other sides to this story before going to town with the obviously self-serving write up. We all owe a duty to ensure that we publish the truth but then I know you would never do that as you don’t seem to care about the damage you do to people’s reputation. If you indeed stand for the truth, then I dare you to publish my own side of the story. If you remain the SaharaReporters we used to look up to for credible news, you must publish my own side of the story. I refuse to dignify your reportage by asking for an apology.”

•Photo shows NBA General Secretary, Mazi Afam Osigwe.

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