The suspended senator for Kogi Central, Natasha Akpoti-Uduaghan, has filed a petition to disbar the chairman of the Senate Committee on Ethics, Privileges, and Public Petition, Senator Nedamwem Imasuen, and have his name removed as a lawyer.
In her petition, Akpoti-Uduaghan alleged that the New York Supreme Court, Appellate Division, had on May 10, 2010, indicted and debarred the Senate Ethics Committee chairman “for fraud, misappropriation of client’s funds and failure to respond to disciplinary authorities”.
To back her allegation, the petitioner tendered to the Legal Practitioners Disciplinary Committee (LPDC) a copy of the Justia New York Case Law 2010, with the title ‘Matter of Imasuen.
She equally pledged to “lead further evidence from official records of the respondent’s disbarment at the trial of this case”.
Senator Akpoti-Uduaghan told the LPDC that the respondent’s disbarment by the US court followed a complaint that was lodged against him by one Daphne Slyfield, a client who paid substantial legal fees to him but was abandoned without legal recourse.
“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.
“Despite this 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.
“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,” the petitioner added.
Senator Akpoti-Uduaghan said her petition to the LPDC arose from a sequence of events that call into question the integrity and ethical standing of the respondent.
She alleged that Senator Imasuen had, in an attempt to expose the judiciary to odium and disrepute, publicly spurned an interim order the Federal High Court in Abuja made on March 4, which stopped his committee from proceeding with a disciplinary action that was initiated against her.
She maintained that the respondent, who was duly served with the interim order, acted in contempt of court by slamming her with a six-month suspension.
Details later…
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