The Legal Practitioners Disciplinary Committee (LPDC) has suspended Chijioke Ugochukwu Onyeneke for two years after finding him guilty of “infamous conduct in the course of performance of his duty as a legal practitioner”.
Gatekeepers News reports that Onyeneke’s suspension followed an application filed in February 2021 by fellow lawyer Ayodele Kusamotu, who accused him of writing a false and malicious petition to the police.
The LPDC is the statutory body responsible for handling disciplinary cases involving Nigerian lawyers.
THE APPLICATION
According to the application filed by Kusamotu, Onyeneke authored a petition dated June 12, 2018, addressed to the Nigeria Police Force (NPF), accusing him of engaging in fraudulent activities with Hexing Electrical Company Ltd.
In the petition, Onyeneke alleged that Kusamotu was a “crony being used to execute fraudulent activities with his client” — Hexing Electrical Company Ltd — against another company, Chris Ejik International Agencies Ltd, which he represented at the time.
Both companies were involved in a legal dispute over the supply of electric meters.
Following the petition, the police invited Kusamotu for questioning and later filed a criminal charge against him, which the court eventually struck out.
Kusamotu also initiated a fundamental human rights action against the police (Suit No. FHC/L/CS/210/2019) over harassment resulting from the petition. The court ruled in his favour, describing the petition as “baseless, frivolous and actuated mala fide.”
In his application to the LPDC, Kusamotu argued that Onyeneke knowingly supplied false information and made “unsubstantiated and malicious” allegations about his relationship with Hexing Electrical Company, which he said was strictly professional.
In response, Onyeneke told the committee that the application was sub judice since the subject matter was before a competent court. He also argued that the LPDC lacked jurisdiction because the allegations involved criminality.
THE VERDICT
Delivering its decision on November 14, the LPDC held that Onyeneke acted in bad faith by filing the petition and facilitating Kusamotu’s arrest.
The committee ruled that the petition was unsupported by reasonable facts and that the police had no basis to investigate the matter since it was already before a court at the time.
It held that Onyeneke failed to demonstrate that he acted in good faith, and found him guilty of breaching Rules 1 and 26(1) of the Rules of Professional Conduct (RPC) 2023.
“We… find the Respondent, CHIJIOKE UGOCHUKWU ONYENEKE, ESQ… guilty of infamous conduct in the course of performance of his duty as a legal practitioner,”
the LPDC said.
The committee directed that Onyeneke be suspended from the Roll of Legal Practitioners — and from legal practice — for two years.
“The Respondent… is also directed to tender a letter of apology in a national daily newspaper, within 30 days from the date of this Direction,”
the LPDC added.
The chief registrar of the supreme court has been instructed to effect the order and annotate the suspension against Onyeneke’s name on the roll. Copies of the directive will be sent to the Chief Justice of Nigeria, all heads of courts, and the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA).
The LPDC noted that in December 2024, it imposed a three-year suspension on Abubuike Sylvester, the police counsel involved in the same dispute, for professional misconduct.
