A Senior Advocate of Nigeria, Kunle Kalejaiye, has asked the Supreme Court, to among others, set aside Thursday’s directive by the Legal Practitioners Disciplinary Committee (LPDC) that he should be disbarred on ground of professional misconduct.
His request is contained in the appeal he filed before the apex court yesterday, in which he also urged the court to restore his name back to the list of legal practitioners in Nigeria.
The LPDC had, in a directive issued on Thursday, found Kalejaiye guilty of professional misconduct and directed the Registrar of the Supreme Court to delete his name from the roll (list) of legal practitioners in the country.
In the notice of appeal filed byKalejaye’s legal team, led by Dr. Alex Izinyon (SAN), the appellant raised eight grounds. Also in the team are Bolaji Ayorinde (SAN), Adebayo Adenipekun (SAN) and Chief Duro Adeyele(SAN).
The appellant contended that the LPDC erred in law and facts, denied him fair hearing and that its verdict “is against the weight of evidence”.
Kalejaye, who the LPDC found to have engaged in an ex-parte confidential communication with the Chairman of the 2008 Osun governorship tribunal, Justice Thomas Naron, faulted the finding and argued that the LPDC erred in law for holding that he did communicated with the now retired Justice Naron.
“The appellant, from the onset, denied any communication with the said judge. There was no evidence before the committee on what was communicated between the appellant and the said judge. The purported call long did not show the content of the said communication.
“It was too simplistic for the committee to hold that any communication in this case between a lawyer and a judge without evidence of the content of such communication amounted to infamous misconduct,” he said.
Kalejaiye also contended that the complainant, the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA), “did not prove the elements in the three-count charge as alleged before the committee (LPDC).
“The committee placed heavy reliance on record of proceedings contained in the call logs which were computer-generated, but did not satisfy the requirement of the Evidence Act. No witness gave evidence on behalf of the complainant,” the appellant said as part of the particulars of error canvassed in the first ground of appeal,” he said.
The appellant further argued that the LPDC misdirected themselves in law and in fact when they held that though the defence of spoofing availed the appellant, the failure of the appellant’s expert to demonstrate using MTN to MTN network, instead of Glo to Airtel was fatal to the appellant’s defence of spoofing”.
He also faulted the verdict of the LPDC on the grounds that the LDPC erroneously held that the Certified True Copy of documents which contained call longs from computer-generated source do not need any compliance with section 84 of the Evidence Act once it has been certified.
The appellant contended in ground four that “the direction (the judgment) is against the weight of evidence”.
In support of ground five of the appeal, Kalejaiye argued that the committee misdirected themselves in law and fact when it held “that it was the duty of the appellant to call the MTN service provider as his witness instead of relying on the MTN letter alone.”
In support of ground six, he argued that the committee “erred in law when it allowed the complainant to reopen its case and call additional witness after it has closed its case when the conditions of such reopening as stated by the Supreme Court in WILOUGHBY V. IMB LTD (1987) 1 SCNJ 46 AT 70 -58 were not satisfied”.