January 09, (THEWILL) – The best news that anyone can wish for himself /herself is what socialite and luxury brand influencer, Nimi Nwofor, got and can’t stop thanking God for. The light-complexioned mother of six recounted how she was grieved in her spirit after her husband, Beluolisa Emmanuel Ikechukwu Nwofor, was stripped of his Senior Advocate of Nigeria title, which he earned in 2004, and how she petitioned God to intervene through prayers.
Apparently God heard Nimi’s cries and her husband’s SAN’s title was eventually restored after four years of shame and reproach. For this, she has not stopped expressing her gratitude to God and has enjoined her social media followers to continue to give thanks to God on her behalf.
In 2017, Nwofor was stripped of his SAN title over acts alleged to be unbefitting of a holder of the title by the Nigerian Legal Practitioners’ Privileges Committee. He was representing Ali Modu Sheriff in a suit at the appeal court, seeking the declaration of Jimoh Ibrahim as the authentic PDP candidate in the Ondo State governorship election of November 2016.
Nwofor accused the panel of justices presiding over the case of bribery and bias, and asked the panel to withdraw from the matter. Following the allegations, the court suspended its hearing until the Supreme Court gave the go-ahead to do so. However, things turned against him when he received a letter from Chief Justice Walter Onnoghen, informing him of the withdrawal of his title of SAN on June 23, 2017. A petition had been written against him by the Chief Registrar of the Court of Appeal of Nigeria to the legal practitioners’ committee. The petition stated that he conducted himself in a rude and unruly manner before the court and also made the Justices of the appellate court parties in their personal capacities in his applications to the Supreme Court filed on November 17, 2016, thereby altering the course of litigation.
Nwofor was therefore advised to desist from parading himself as a Senior Advocate of Nigeria. He didn’t take their decision lightly and he commenced legal moves to recover his lost title. He approached the Abuja High Court seeking the order of court to nullify the decision of the LPPC on the basis that his fundamental human rights were infringed upon. He also asked the court to nullify the withdrawal of the title of SAN from him as contained in the letter served him on June 23, 2017 and sought damages in the sum of N5 billion and a public apology to be published by major newspapers in Nigeria.
Unfortunately, Nwofor’s suit was dismissed for lacking in merit. Not deterred, he forged on. In a letter to former Chief Justice of Nigeria, Justice Idris Kutigi, in December 2017, he chronicled what transpired at the panel, stating that throughout the proceedings at the Court of Appeal, he acted professionally and was never cited for contempt of court.
He argued that there is nowhere in the letter given to him where it was written, exactly what he did that amounted to unruly and contemptuous conduct or speaking and acting rudely to the court. He claimed that despite paying N3 million each to the three Justices of the Court of Appeal as directed by the Supreme Court, his rank of SAN was still withdrawn, adding that he was denied fair hearing by the disciplinary panel in breach of his constitutional rights.
He also alleged bias against his person. After a lot of back and forth argument on the matter, Nwofor’s SAN’s title was eventually restored four year after he was stripped of it. The Chief Justice of Nigeria and Chairman of LPPC, Justice Ibrahim Tanko Muhammad, in a notification letter, said that Nwofor satisfied the conditions for the restoration of his SAN title, but warned him to desist from any future act or conduct that would run foul of the provisions of the Rules of Professional Conduct of Legal Practitioners, which may attract a stiffer sanction against him.
About the Author
