Professional Misconduct: Legal Practitioners Disciplinary Committee Disbars Kalejaiye (SAN)

Source: thewillnigeria.com

SAN FRANCISCO, May 21, (THEWILL) – A top lawyer who is also a Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN), Kunle Kalejaiye, has been disbarred by the Legal Practitioners Disciplinary Committee (LPDC) having been found guilty of what the committee described as professional misconduct.

Kalejaiye was the counsel to former governor of Osun State, Prince Olagunsoye Oyinlola.

The Committee, which passed the verdict on Kalejaiye, also directed the Chief Registrar of the Supreme Court to immediately remove his name from the official list of legal practitioners in the country.

The committee also directed that its decision should be served on the President of the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA), the Chief Judges of all the states of the federation, the Chief Judge of Federal High Court, Chief Judge of the High Court of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), the Inspector General of Police (IGP) and all states' Commissioners of Police. It also directed that the decision be published in the media for public consumption.

The verdict passed on Kalejaiye Thursday followed the conclusion of work by a five-man investigative panel led by the President of the Court of Appeal, Justice Zainab Bulkachuwa.

The panel had swung into action following a complaint against Kalejaiye by the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA), represented by Jibrin Okutepa (SAN).

Reading the directive of the Committee on Thursday, the Presiding Justice of the Court of Appeal, Ekiti Division, Justice Paul Galinje, , held that the prosecution proved its three-count complaint beyond reasonable doubt and that Kalejaiye violated the provisions of sections 1, 15, 30, 31, 34 and 55 of the Rules of Professional Conduct for Legal Practitioners (2007).

However, Kalejaiye's lawyer, Niyi Owolade, a former Attorney General of Osun State, has faulted the decision of the Committee, saying his client was about filing his appeal at the Supreme Court.

According to the Legal Practitioners Act (LPA), Kalejaiye has up to 28 days to appeal the decision, failing which it will become effective.

Section 11(8) of the LPA states that: “A direction of the disciplinary committee under subsection (1) or subsection (2) of this section shall take effect:

(a) where no appeal under this section is brought against the direction within the time limited for the appeal, on the expiration of that time;

(b) where such an appeal is brought and is withdrawn or struck out for want of prosecution, on the withdrawal or striking out of the appeal;

(c) where such an appeal is brought and is not withdrawn or struck out as aforesaid, if and when the appeal is dismissed, and shall not take effect except in accordance with the foregoing provisions of this subsection.

According to the complaints against the embattled lawyer, between March and June 2008, while acting for a party in the Osun State Governorship Election Tribunal, Kalejaiye engaged “confidential, private and confidential telephone conversation with the tribunal's Chairman, Justice Thomas Naron, without the knowledge of the other party.

Kalejaiye was then representing the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), and then Osun State governor, Oyinlola, at the tribunal which heard the petition by the Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN) and its candidate at the 2007 governorship election.

Justice Naron has since been compulsorily retired having been found guilty of professional misconduct by the National Judicial Council (NJC).

Kalejaiye's defence was rejected by the LPDC to the effect that his telephone number was cloned, on the ground that while he was able to show, by expert evidence, that spoofing, as a general phenomenon was possible, he failed to show that spoofing was possible on the MTN network (which owned the lines with which Kalejaiye and Naron communicated) rather than demonstrating such possibility with Etisalat and Glo networks.

Kalejaiye's documentary evidence, mostly newspaper publications (including advertorial sponsored by Kalejaiye), faulting the authenticity of the call log from MTN, was also punctured by the Committee.

According to the Committee, it would have been more helpful had Kalejaiye applied and got his call log from MTN to prove that the one tendered by the prosecution was not the actual one.